Once in Middle Earth
by Erin Means Peace
Summary: A young elfling princess who has lost her family was taken in by Thorin and the company. But troubles arise when she grows up and a new threat has come to middle earth and valinor after the destruction of the ring. Not to mention an elvish prince who her adoptive father can't stand is madly in love with her. Is true love really the most powerful thing there is? rating: T-MA
1. Chapter 1 A Family lost, A New One Found

This is my first story and I hope you all enjoy it. I'll be adding more chapters so follow this story so you know when the new chapters get added. I made up the main character and her nation so there's a reason you've never heard of her or the Elvish kingdom she comes from. This story takes place after Erebor was taken over by Smaug and all the citizens are traveling together lost and trying to find a new home. All the thirteen dwarves are together and they are passing by this expanse of wilderness far off but not too far from the Elvish nation Nauru ….

"You look lovely Annie!" The Elvish Queen of Nauru exclaimed to her daughter a young elfling named Annaliece. "That dress is perfect I knew it would look splendid on you!"

"You say she looks good in everything mother." Annaliece's older sister Tauriel commented. Even though she was an elfling and only 6 years older than her sister she still felt like she was superior and very jealous of all the attention her mother had been giving to her younger sister who had only been alive for 5 year and her sister 11. "Just because you say it looks good on her doesn't mean it actually does."

"It doesn't." Annaliece replied in her small nervous voice. She often felt very intimidated by her sister.

"Nonsense. Don't listen to your sister Annie she doesn't know what she's talking about. You look beautiful and that's no lie. Your sister is just jealous of how lovely you look in your new dress." The Queen told Annaliece while giving a stern stare to Tauriel "Right Tauriel?"

"What? Are you kidding? Why on Middle Earth would I want to look like that?" she said gesturing to Annaliece who was starting to tear up as she let out a small sniffle.

"Tauriel! Go to your room and stay there until I come and tell you it's alright to leave!" The Queen fiercely scolded. "And we will be having a little talk on how to treat your sister." She added as Tauriel left the room.

"Do I really look that ugly?" Annaliece asked her mother as she started to cry.

" Annaliece, oh darling no, of course not. You're beautiful. If you won't believe me then go to the mirror over there and see for yourself." The Queen said as she led Annaliece over to the mirror on the wall. "Now look and let me tell you what I see." Annaliece looked in the mirror.

"What do you see?" she asked still choking on tears.

"I see a beautiful girl in a lovely dress. With long gourgeous blonde hair, that drapes over her light fair skin. And where her eyes should be, are two beautiful emeralds as green as a new grown leaf on a tree."

Annaliece giggled "Mother I have eyes. I couldn't see if I had emeralds instead."

The Queen smiled and kissed her daughter on the head. "Don't listen to your sister when she tells you you're not beautiful. You are now and you will only get lovlier as you get older. I can't wait to see how fair you will be when you're all grown up. The prince or noble elf that your father picks for you to marry will be very lucky to have such a lovely wife."

"Do I have to marry someone just because my father picks them? Can I marry an elf because I love him?" Annaliece asked

"Of course you can marry someone you love. As long as your father agrees then it's alright." The Queen replied.

"But what if he doesn't?" Annaliece asked.

"Well then…." Her voice trailed off as the two heard a loud explosion near the border.

"What was that?" Annaliece asked alarmed.

"It sounded like… no… it couldn't be." The Queen ran over to the window and looked out. "Oh my! It is…" her voice got cut off again by a guard who ran into the room.

"Dragon!" he shouted.

The Queen grabbed Annaliece's arm and ran to Tauriel's room and threw open the door immeadiately.

"Well I see it's time for my lesson on how to behave towards my sister. I'm so excited, please tell me all your wisdom on this matter?" Tauriel said sarcastically.

"That is going to have to wait." The Queen said sternly. "There is a dragon terrorizing the city and I need you to leave with your sister and protect her."

"Ugh" Tauriel groaned. "Why do I always have to protect her? Why can't we just teach her to defend herself already?"

"She's 5 years old. You know she could never defend herself right now." The Queen retorted sharply. "And for that matter even you can't defend yourself that well either. You are eleven you can't defend yourself against a dragon." They heard the dragon spew fire at another section of the kingdom. "Quickly now! To the escape exit both of you!" The Queen led them to the escape exit in a hallway of the castle "Just follow the tunnel and you two should be out of harm's way in no time." She said opening up the door for them to go in.

"What about you mother?" Annaliece asked. "Aren't you coming with us?"

The Queen gave Annaliece a sad look and said "No darling I cannot."

"What? Why?" Annaliece asked as the dragon demolished a library by the castle.

"The tunnel is magic it only allows two. Now both of you, go now!" The Queen said pushing them both in the tunnel.

"When will I see you again mother?" Annaliece asked crying.

Tauriel and The Queen exchanged glances. They both knew the outcome. "Soon." The Queen replied. "Tauriel will show you how to get back. She knows how. Right Tauriel?" She said giving her a look that meant _say yes._

"Yes mother. I will gladly show Annie the way back after this is all over." Tauriel replied as they felt the castle shake and a huge chunk of the ceiling came crashing down next to The Queen.

"Promise me you two will stick together no matter what! Now go before the tunnel collapses!" The Queen shut the door leaving them both alone inside the tunnel.

Tauriel felt the floor shaking "Let's get out of here now!" she grabbed Annaliece's arm and the two of them ran through the tunnel until they finally reached the exit and opened it. They came out from a tree a long distance away from the city but still in view of it. That's when they saw what had happened to their home.

"The palace!" Annaliece exclaimed! "It's destroyed! What about mother! Do you think she's ok?"

Tauriel just stood there staring at the smoking kingdom. With a shocked and sad expression on her face and tears rolling down her cheeks. Then she finally turned to Annaliece and said "Annie. Our mother is dead."

"She can't be! She promised we'd see her again after this is over!" Annaliece yelled as she burst into tears.

"Annie she lied." Tauriel said choking back her tears

"Why would she do that! She always tells us lying is wrong and then she goes and lies to us! Why I don't understand?" Annaliece cried.

"To protect us." Tauriel said "She knew that you would never go without her."

"I miss mother already." Annaliece said sobbing.

"I made her a promise that I would protect you and take care of you Annie. I'm keeping that promise. Come on. There's nothing left for us here." Tauriel said turning away from the burning city and walking away. Annaliece stayed a moment longer. Tears streaming down her face as she looked at her home in flames, her mother burning alive in the inferno. "Come on. Let's go." Annaliece turned and followed Tauriel towards the wilderness. Tauriel took one look back then kept on walking. Annaliece looked back and saw a huge dragon with yellow blazing eyes staring right through her and she ran and caught up to her. Tauriel made a camp that night in the woods. Annaliece sat on a tree root crying for her mother. "Will you stop crying and help me!" Tauriel shouted angrily at her sister.

"I can't help it." Annaliece said still sobbing "I miss mother."

"Look Annie, she gave her life for us, let's not have it be worth nothing by having us both die because you're too spoiled to start a fire or set up camp even though your life depends on it!" Tauriel pushed Annie to the ground.

"I would but I don't know how! I'm five Tauriel! I don't know how to take care of myself mother always took care of me." Annaliece shouted at her in tears sitting on the ground.

"Well it's time to learn then." Tauriel said handing Annaliece a knife. "Welcome to the real world, now go kill some squirrels or something with that knife."

"I'll try." Annaliece said and climbed a tree nearby to find a squirrel to stab. She looked on a branch and thought she saw something like a salamander moving on the branch. She looked closer and realized it was too big to be a salamder and it was the same color as the branch. She held out her hand to it and it crawled on. It started to change to match the color of her pale fair skin. She giggled as it sat there on her. Then she remembered her job. To find some squirrels to eat. She felt the reptile crawl up on her shoulder and fasten itself there. She saw a squirrel eating on the branch. She took her aim, ready to throw the knife. _I'm so sorry _she said in her mind to the squirrel. She was about to throw it but then stopped. _No. I can't do it. I'm not a killer. Hopefully Tauriel will understand. _She climbed back down and went to Tauriel.

"So did you kill anything?" she asked.

"No. There was nothing up there to kill." Annaliece replied.

"You're lying." Tauriel replied "I saw a squirrel up there you were just too squeamish to kill it. I expected that from a weakling like you." Then Tauriel saw the chameleon on Annialieces' shoulder. "What's that?" She asked.

"Nothing." Annaliece said taking a step back nervously.

"Show me now!" Tauriel demanded. Annaliece cautiously walked over and picked the chameleon off her shoulder and handed it to Tauriel.

"Well I guess we could eat this." Tauriel said pondering in thought of how to cook a chameleon.

"What? No!" Annaliece exclaimed grabbing the chameleon from Tauriel and holding him close to her. "I like how he changes colors. I want to keep him as a pet."

"We have to eat something if we're going to survive out here and we can't afford to keep anything that we can eat as a pet right now." Tauriel said. She tried to grab the chameleon but Annaliece kept him away.

"I won't let you kill an innocent creature. He didn't do anything to anyone he doesn't deserve to die." Annaliece pleaded.

"You have to stop thinking these innocent thoughts Annie. You can't be squeamish and weak anymore. Wake up and join the real world because you can't go back home again." Tauriel said. Annaliece started to cry. "Why do I even need to worry about you. You're probably going to cry yourself to death or starve because you refuse to eat animals. You wouldn't last one day out here on your own."

_Oh yeah. She thinks she knows everything about survival in the woods and she's only eleven. I'll show her. I'll travel on my own and live by my own rules and I'll be so well off she'll be sorry she was never nice to me. Maybe someone will adopt me into their family. Wouldn't she be jealous if that happened._ Annaliece thought of her life without Tauriel. That night as Tauriel lay in a leaf pile asleep Annaliece slipped away to start her new life, free from Tauriel. As she was walking she heard something behind her. The chameleon was following her. "Hey there little guy. I wasn't expecting to see you again." She let the chameleon climb on her shoulder and sit there as she walked on in the forest. She was feeling happy and free. She even ran around and danced in the leaves. Then she heard a wolf howl. She stopped instantly, suddenly afraid. The darkness felt like it was closing in and she thought she could see a pair of pale eyes staring at her through the bushes. She bolted through the forest screaming, terrified until she ran straight into a dwarf.

"Well hello there little one." The dwarf said "Where did you come from?" Annie looked around the dwarf and saw a sea of people. All upset and dreary.

"I'm Annaliece. Princess of the Elvish kingdom Nauru. And who might you be?" Annaliece asked.

"I'm Balin." The dwarf said handing out his hand to Annaliece. "Why are you out here all on your own? Are your parents nearby?" As soon as Balin said the word 'parent' Annaliece started to cry. "What's wrong child?" Balin asked leaning towards Annaliece.

"My parents are dead." Annalice sobbed.

"What happened?" Balin asked.

"A dragon attacked our kingdom." Annaliece said sobbing even louder. As soon as Balin heard this he picked up Annaliece and took her straight over to a group of dwarves sitting by a fire. He took her up to a very important looking one and said "Thorin, this young elfling princess' kingdom was attacked by a dragon." When Thorin heard this he stood staright up and stared anxiously at the tear stained elf.

"Tell me, what did this dragon look like?" Thorin asked.

"It was big and black, It had these yellow glowing eyes…" Annaliece started to cry again.

"Thorin." A dwarf stood up and went over to Thorin "Don't press these questions on her. She is young and has obviously been through a huge loss like us. Give her some time to recover and then maybe we can learn more."

"You're right Gloin." Thorin answered. "Besides , from what she's said so far, the dragon that destroyed her home isn't the one that took over ours. Smaug is still in Erebor." Thorin sat down with a sigh. When he heard there was a dragon that had attacked another kingdom he was hoping that it was Smaug who had left Erebor and destroyed this young girl's land, and that his grandfather's people could return home Balin had thought this too and that's why he brought Annaliece over. "Our return to Erebor is still very far off."

"What about the girl?" Balin asked "We can't just leave her in the wilderness alone. She's only five as far as I can tell."

"Then she may wander the wilderness. Her kind refused to give us aid when we were in need of it. That's why we're here right now. Now we will do the same to them." Thorin sat down. All the dwarves looked at Annaliece with pity and empathy in their eyes. Their hearts broke at the sight of

"Thorin. Are you really going to abandon this poor defenseless little girl in the wilderness to die?" Balin asked.

"That poor little girl!" Ori shouted and all the dwarves began to tear up and some began to sob for the young elfling.

"Why should we take her in when her kind didn't take us in." Thorin said.

"She's young. She isn't Thrandruil Thorin. She wasn't the one who abandoned us and her parents as far as we know haven't done any harm to our kind. She has just gone through what we've gone through. You understand how she feels don't you?" Balin asked Thorin. Thorin turned to face Annaliece. He looked into her eyes and saw innocence and hurt, and fear. After a long while he sighed.

"Alright, she may stay with us." Thorin said.

"Yay!" Annalieces' face lit up and she smiled as Balin put her down and she went over to Thorin and hugged him. "Thank you." She said. Thorin slowly hugged her back and all the other dwarves smiled and went "awwww" Her smile seemed to warm their hearts and they seemed to forget all they had been through, and the fire seemed to glow a little brighter. She sat down with Thorin and the other dwarves. Her new family.

All of a sudden Tauriel woke up. She thought she heard something close by in the camp she made for her and her sister but she guessed she was mistaken. She looked over at where her sister was sleeping and was about to go to sleep when she realized that she wasn't there. She immeadiatly got up and started looking around camp for her, assuming she was just hiding somewhere. "Annie." She called out, but no reply came. "Annie where are you? This isn't funny come out from wherever you're hiding right now!" she heard the wolves howl and a dark expression crossed her face "No! oh no! She's been eaten by wolves! I promised mother I would look after her and now she's dead! I shouldn't have been so hard on her and now she's died so young! What have I done!" Tauriel shouted as she wept for her sister. Not knowing that she was still alive and with Thorin and the other dwarves.


	2. Chapter 2 Love at First Sight

Sorry this is late I was busy the past weeks because of midterms. But now I'm back and ready to continue the story of the elf- maiden Annaliece. The story continues after the destruction of the ring and in the fourth age of middle earth. Erebor has been flourishing greatly but they still resent the elves of Mirkwood especially after they found out that Thranduil had locked up Thorin and the others. Annaliece has mourned greatly for her adoptive father Thorin but the dwarves that are still living act as her parents. And Dain decided to make Annaliece the princess of Erebor because Thorin loved her so much. And she's a grown up Elf-maiden now…

Annaliece woke up bright and early excited to finally get outside into the wild. She only got to do this every now and then so it was a big deal to her. She put on her hunting outfit. Pants and a lights shirt with a vest and her black leather boots and her bow and quiver and ran to her best friends' chamber. "Wake up Mira!" Annaliece shouted as she burst open the door.

"Wha- ahh!" Mira shouted as she woke up and fell out of bed startled by Annaliece. "What time is it?" Mira asked rubbing her eyes. Mira was a dwarf woman who befriended Annaliece when she was an elfling and joined Thorins' family. She's Bofurs' daughter.

"Dawn." Annaliece replied helping Mira up "But we don't have a minute to spare." The pair ran out of Mira's chamber weapons in hand and they both raced down to the dining hall and sat down with Dain.

"Hello Annaliece." Dain said as he sat down with Annaliece and ate. "So you understand what will be happening today."

"Yes." Annaliece replied with her mouth half full. "I'm going to leave and spend 3 days in Dale with Mira as you take care of business with your guests."

"Yes." Dain replied. "And you aren't to come anywhere near the mountain at all. Seriously. Don't come here at all." Dain said nervously.

"Why not?" Annaliece asked curiously.

"Uhhh.." Dain said nervously. He could never tell Annaliece why she wasn't allowed here for the three days. Thranduil and Legolas and his elvish escorts were his guests and would be here for the three days so he was sending Annaliece away. He had already told all the dwarves this so they don't mention Annaliece around Thranduil or the others or they might try to press Legolas as a suitor for Annaliece. Which would mean Mirkwood and Erebor would be in an alliance. Which was something Dain did not want. "It's because there will be a magic over this mountain that kills all elves inside." Dain lied to Annaliece.

"I wasn't born yesterday Dain tell me what's going on?" She asked politely "Who are these guests that you don't want me to meet?"

"Other dwarves." Dain said thinking up a better lie. "They greatly dislike elves so it's important that you don't come anywhere near the mountain so they don't kill you." Dain finished congratulating himself in his mind for coming up with such a brilliant lie.

"Alright." Annaliece said not fully believing Dain. "Let's get going Mira. We have a big three days ahead of us." She said grabbing Mira's arm and dragging her out of the hall as she was about to take a bite out of a cinnamon roll.

"Phew." Dain let out a sigh of relief when Annaliece left.

"Your majesty?" A dwarf walking by asked "Why do we send Annaliece to Dale and not just lock her in her room when Thranduil comes?"

Dain chuckled and said "It's all about psychology. Annaliece is a curious elf-maiden. If we locked her away in her room she'd probably break out and then Thranduil or Legolas or one of the escorts would see her but if we never let her go far from the mountain when the Elves of Mirkwood are not here than when they are here and we let her go running around free in the out skirting woodlands of Dale and the city itself then she will be too happy to want to come back until the three days are up. It's actually quite hard to get her back sometimes she's so happy." Dain finished with a hearty laugh as the dwarf walked away. "Oh I'm a genius." Dain said to himself.

Meanwhile Annaliece was running towards the stable with Mira to saddle up and head for the woods. Her horse Arete was already saddled so she immediately opened the gate and Arete came out knowing what was about to happen. Annaliece swung on and kicked her and they went out at a gallop with Mira behind on her pony out the gates of Erebor and down into the valley and straight for the nearby woodlands with Mira behind looking a bit nervous. Even though Dain told her to go straight for Dale she really wanted to get in some archery. She quickly notched an arrow in her bow and shot at a target she had set up about half a century ago. She strung her bow and hit the target dead center. She did this with a few others and then Mira's nervousness became fear. She looked west of the trail Annaliece was on and saw Thranduil's party slowly coming through the woods and Annaliece would surely get their attention.

"Annie!" Mira called out. But Annaliece tuned her out. She had to train all her focus on the upcoming target that would require unimaginable accuracy. _Maybe they won't notice her._ Mira thought to herself. _Afterall there's a cliff. They'll be on the cliff moving towards Erebor and Annie will be below them. _Then she remembered how amazing Elven hearing was. _Oh who am I kidding! She's an elf-maiden charging right below them shooting arrows of course they'll notice her! _ And Mira charged forward on her pony hoping to catch up to Annaliece before the elves saw her but then she slowed down and decided to hide. _Perhaps if they don't see a dwarf with her they won't suspect that she's from Erebor and think she's just some random elf-maiden practicing archery. _So Mira went and hid out of sight from the elves on her pony.

Meanwhile Legolas began to hear Arete charging through the woods. He turned towards the sound and saw Annaliece and was awestruck by her grace and beauty as she rode. The target she was about to hit caught his eye and he watched closely to see if she could hit it. Annaliece saw the target and strung her bow. She aimed and hit it dead center. Legolas smiled and was a little impressed that she could hit a target from so far away. Then as she moved closer to the party Legolas watched as she strung four arrows in her bow and then saw four targets all in a line on a bridge up ahead of her. _There's no way she can hit all four at once _Legolas thought to himself _Not even I can do that. _But then Arete jumped over a stream which gave Annaliece just enough elevation so she shot and hit all four targets at once dead center. Legolas stared at her in awe with his mouth gaping. Thranduil had noticed the elf-maiden but chose to ignore her. _Just some peasant _he thought and paid no more attention to her after that. Then he noticed his son's reaction and turned to him. "What is it my son?" he asked Legolas. But Legolas kept staring at Annaliece as she galloped off.

"Legolas!" Thranduil scolded annoyed by his son's lack of attention to him. Legolas turned away and faced his father. "That peasant is obviously not more worthy of your attention than your father now disregard her and focus on the task ahead of us. We are going to Erebor to discuss matters of a threat to this area of Middle Earth with Dain now I want you to focus because I may need you to be a large part in how we are to deal with this problem understood?"

"Yes father." Legolas replied with a reluctant sigh. He turned back to look at Tauriel the head of the elven guard for Mirkwood. She too had seen Annaliece and was equally amazed. _Something about her is familiar._ Tauriel thought as the party headed toward Erebor not yet realizing that she was her long lost sister. "You saw her too right?" Legolas asked and Tauriel nodded.

Mira came out of hiding after the elves had passed her and rode out to catch up with Annaliece. She found her on the outskirts of the woodland eating some lembas bread she brought with her while sanding her bow. She was looking over the lake at the ruins of the old lake town that had been destroyed for well over 60 years now. The smell of rotting dragon flesh was pretty much gone and the decay had been a great fertilizer so sitting on the river bank was actually a pleasant and relaxing thing to do. To Annaliece anyway who didn't fear the dead. Mira sat down next to her and the two talked for a while and Annaliece looked at the tallest tree in the forest next to her. She ran over and began to climb it. Once she reached the top she looked around amazed by all she saw.

"You can see everything from up here!" she called down to Mira who refused to climb the tree with Annaliece because she like most dwarves preferred being below ground and not above it. "The lonely mountain, the rotting dragon carcass, Dale…" a terrified expression crossed her face. _Oh no! I completely forgot! I was supposed to be in Dale first thing this morning and now it's almost sunset! _She thought as she climbed down the tree as fast as she could and got on Arete and galloped off once again with Mira following on her pony.

The two reached Dale at sunset and the lord was not pleased with Annaliece's late coming. "You were supposed to be here hours ago!" he yelled at her angrily.

"I'm so sorry." Annaliece pleaded "I was out exploring the wilderness and I guess time just got away from me. I'm so sorry I'm late."

"That doesn't change the fact that you had us all worried sick!" The lord replied. "I sent out a search party hours ago to find you and now I have to send more men to bring them back now that you're found. Do you know how much trouble that is?"

"Yes." Annaliece sighed.

"You are not to leave the city for the remainder of the time you are here. Is that understood?" The lord told Annaliece.

"Yes." Annaliece said reluctantly. The lord left Annaliece with the servants to take her to the guest chamber where she would be staying. She had dinner with Mira and then she went to her chamber and got ready for bed. _Perhaps I might find some sort of adventure in Dale._ She thought as she fell asleep.

Meanwhile in Erebor…

"Something must be done about this witch!" The lord of Dale who had arrived not too long ago shouted at the council with Thranduil and Dain.

"I say we just have her head and be done with it." Dain suggested.

"No Dain we must handle this matter cautiously. She does after all have the power to destroy us all. Why she hasn't yet I wonder?" Thranduil stated.

"Perhaps there is something we have that she wants?" Legolas suggested.

"Perhaps." The lord of Dale replied "But the sun is setting. I'm sorry I'm late for the council I had matters to deal with back at Dale." He said with a look at Dain. The pair exchanged a glance and Thranduil gave them both a suspicious look.

"Well I guess that concludes this council then. I must return to Mirkwood with my son. This is a new threat and we should end it as fast as we can. This council is far from over but it will have to end for now." Thranduil said as he and Legolas stood up to leave.

"Perhaps we should ask Gandalf about this. After all he is a wizard he knows about magic. Perhaps he can assist us in defeating this witch?" Legolas stated.

"You are right my son." Thranduil praised "We should hold off this council until we can contact Mithrandir to join us." Thranduil and Legolas left to prepare for the return journey to Mirkwood. "You have so many good ideas and thoguhts my son. You will achieve greatness someday and make your name known throughout Middle Earth I know it." Thranduil praised his son.

"Father I have already bravely fought in the Great War that saved middle Earth. You know the one at the Black Gates when the ring was destroyed?" Legolas questioned his father.

"Yes but was it you who destroyed the ring? No it wasn't. You could've destroyed it but instead you let some hairy toed midget get all the glory. It should've been you who bore it and destroyed it. That would make me proud." Thranduil told his son. Legolas sighed and followed his father.

The next morning Legolas and Thranduil were preparing to leave when they checked the return supplies That they brought and realized the elf in charge of them had forgotten to bring them. "You fool!" Thranduil scolded the elf. "Now what do we do?" He said with his hand on his forehead.

"Perhaps we could stop at Dale for supplies." Legolas suggested.

"I suppose you're right son." Thranduil said. "Elves lets go to Dale." And they all set out for Dale.

That same morning Mira went to Annaliece's chamber in Dale. "Wake up sleepy head." She teased as she shook Annaliece in bed trying to wake her up.

"Five more minutes." Annaliece said in her sleep.

"You said that five minutes ago now get up!" Mira said as she pushed Annaliece out of bed. "How does it feel to have a taste of your own medicine." Mira laughed. "Now come on. I know you're upset that you can't leave Dale but it's not worth sitting here moping about. Maybe you'll find something interesting in Dale." Mira suggested.

"Like what?" Annaliece asked.

"Well.. uh.." Mira pondered.

"Exactly." Annaliece replied.

"Hey you could make a friend. Or a boyfriend." She said nudging Annaliece's arm.

"I've told you I'm not looking for a relationship many times Mira." Annaliece said fixing her hair. "I'm an elf-maiden and I plan on keeping my maiden title." Annalice said putting on her green dress out of Mira's view and putting on her mother's necklace. The only thing that was left of her. "I guess there's no point in moping around here." Annaliece said with a sigh and she and Mira left to go into town.

"Alright elves." Thranduil addressed the party. "All of you go into town and gather supplies for the return journey home. We will spend the night here than make our way home first thing in the morning." All the elves left to go find food.

"I'm hungry." Annaliece said as she and Mira were walking through town.

"Well then you should've gotten up for breakfast." Mira said as she ate her apple.

Annaliece's stomach growled and she spotted a market. "I'll just buy some food." Annaliece said as she went over to the market.

"Maybe you could just beg one of those handsome men over there for food. I'm sure they'd give it to you." Mira joked. "And they might give your best friend a little something too." She added smiling at the thought.

"For the last time Mira!" Annaliece yelled as she made her way over to the apple barrel and reached her hand inside. "I'm not-" She stopped when she felt someone s hand on hers. She turned and saw a handsome elf prince (by the way if you haven't realized already it's Legolas) who had reached for the same apple as her. The two held each other's gaze for the longest time, staring into each other's eyes.

"Looking for a relationship." Mira finished smiling at the pair.


	3. Chapter 3 Reunitings and Preparation

"It's you." Legolas said still staring into her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Annaliece asked confused.

"You're that elf-maiden I saw shooting in the woods the other day while I was on my way to Erebor." He replied.

"You saw me?" Annaliece said a little alarmed "I thought no one went through those woods."

"Well it's the route my father and I take to Erebor. We are wood elves after all. And while we were on our way I couldn't help but notice you. You're an amazing archer. So graceful and fair." He complemented as he leaned closer to her.

"Oh uh..." Annaliece replied nervously leaning back. "Thank you." She said turning away from his gaze. "May I ask what business you have in Erebor?"

"Well that's confidential." He said with a smirk. "But perhaps I could spill some information if you show me how to shoot like you did in the woods the other day."

"Hm…" Annaliece said jokingly "I don't know if you have what it takes to learn." She said smiling.

"Oh really." He said smiling back. He took out his bow and arrows and he spotted some men far down the road hanging by ale barrels he strung his bow and shot at one of the barrels. It hit right where he wanted it to and the ale started pouring out of the barrel and the men cheered and brought around their cups and started drinking and sending words of praise to Legolas. One of them threw Legolas an apple and he caught it and handed it to Annaliece smiling.

"Okay so you have some skill." She replied. "When do you want me to show you?"

"Well I leave first thing tomorrow morning so does tonight at sunset work for you?" he asked.

"Oh." Annaliece replied looking upset. "I'm sort of not allowed to leave the city for a while." She said as she remembered the punishment the lord of Dale had given her.

"Oh." Legolas said looking disappointed.

_This could be my ticket back into the woods for some archery. These three days might be enjoyable yet. _"But I suppose I could try to sneak out." Annaliece said feeling a little uncertain.

"Wonderful." Legolas exclaimed as he grabbed her hands. "Meet me by the gates to the city at sunset."

"Ok I'll see you then." Annaliece said as she walked away from him.

"Wait." he said and he ran towards her. "I didn't catch your name. My name is Legolas Greenleaf."

"Annaliece." She replied smiling. "But my friends call me Annie." And after that she turned and walked away.

_Annie._ Legolas thought as she left _Such a lovely name. For an even lovelier girl._ He watched her leave until he heard someone call his name.

"Hey lover boy, you're supposed to be gathering supplies not courting maidens." Tauriel said as she walked over to Legolas.(Their whole conversation from this point forward will be in Elvish.)

"Relax I am gathering supplies." Legolas replied annoyed. "I was just lucky enough to run into her while I was looking for some apples."

"Well to me it didn't look like apples were on your mind when I saw you hitting on that pretty-faced airheaded elf-maiden." Tauriel replied.

"Hey!" Legolas replied angrily. "Don't you dare call her that. She's not just some pretty face she obviously is more than that since she can shoot so well like when we saw her in the woods on our way to Erebor."

"That was her." Tauriel said surprised. "What else did you learn about her?" she asked curiously.

"Her name's Annaliece." Legolas said.

"Annaliece!" Tauriel exclaimed with her eyes wide. _Could it be? She does look exactly like Annie would if she were that age. And Annaliece is an elf name that was thought up by our mother. No other elf-maiden would share the same name. No she can't possibly be alive she was eaten by wolves or wargs or something. Unless…_

"What? Do you know her?" Legolas asked hoping he could learn more about her from Tauriel.

"I think I do." Tauriel replied shaking.

"Really?" Legolas asked happily.

"Yes." Tauriel replied confirming in her mind that she was in fact her sister.

"How?" Legolas asked.

"She's my sister." Tauriel replied softly.

"Really? You never told me you had a sister?" Legolas asked surprised.

"I didn't think I did anymore. I thought she died after our city was destroyed by the dragon. She's alive." Tauriel said.

"Well then go talk to her. She went that way." Legolas said pointing in the direction she went.

"What if she doesn't forgive me." Tauriel said.

"What do you mean?" Legolas asked.

"I wasn't exactly the best sister" Tauriel replied.

"Well then I guess it's time for you to apologize to her." Legolas said.

"I guess you're right." Tauriel said getting up and started to walk in the direction Legolas pointed out.

"Oh. Once you two have, you know, rekindled your sisterly bond, do you think you could ask her a few questions?" Legolas asked hopefully.

"Like what?" Tauriel asked annoyed.

"Just some small things like what she likes. Like what her favorite flower is, what she likes on a date, what she finds really attractive in a guy?" Legolas asked a little nervously.

"I'm not your wingman!" Tauriel replied hotly. "You want to find those things out than grow a pair, come with me and ask her yourself!"

"Whoa ok." Legolas replied with his hands up stepping back. "You don't need to get angry." He walked away to find more supplies. Tauriel walked along the path Legolas said she went. She eventually caught up with Annaliece and was right behind her.

"Annie?" She asked nervously.

Annaliece turned around to face Tauriel. "Tauriel?" she asked a little surprised.

"Annie!" Tauriel exclaimed recognizing her immediately and throwing her arms around Annaliece.

"Taureil!" Annailece exclaimed hugging her sister back.

"I'm so glad you're alive!" Tauriel said still holding Annaliece tightly.

"So am I." Annaliece replied smiling. Tauriel laughed and let go of Annaleice.

"What's going on over here?" Mira asked coming over.

"Mira this is my sister Tauriel. Tauriel this is my best friend Mira." Annaliece introduced and they shook hands.

"Annie I'm surprised." Tauriel said.

"What do you mean?" Annaliece asked.

"How you managed to survive in the wilderness. I thought you would die out there on your own but in fact you did have some guts in you. I'm very proud of you." She said putting her hand on Annaliece's shoulder.

"Oh. Thank you. It wasn't easy but I managed to gather all the supplies necessary and manged to pull through until a family found me and raised me from there." Annaliece said. _Well I'm not completely lying._ Annaliece thought to herself.

"What family?" Tauriel asked.

"Thorin Oakensheild." Mira replied proudly. "Balin found her in the woods and brought her to Thorin and he raised her as his own while she occasionally was raised by some other members of the company when he was busy. And now Dain has taken guardianship of her so she's the princess of Erebor." Mira stated proudly.

"Really?" Tauriel replied looking at Annaliece.

"Yes." Annaliece replied looking at the ground.

"I'm head of the elven guard for Mirkwood." Tauriel said. "And now I must be going because as an elf of such high prestige I have duties of my own and must be going now. We should go hunting sometime though." Tauriel said and she left.

"Well she seems nice." Mira said sarcastically.

"Yeah she's the best." Annaliece replied sarcastically.

"Oh by the way I saw you talking to that handsome elf over there." She said pointing to the apple basket down the path." So when do I plan the wedding?" she asked jokingly.

"You won't need to." Annaliece replied laughing. "We're just friends."

"Uh-huh. Sure." Mira replied.

"I'm serious." Annaliece replied. "But I will need some help with something?"

"What?" Mira asked as Annaliece lead her over to an alley where there weren't so many people who could overhear.

"Sneaking out." Annaliece replied.

"Wait. Did he ask you out on a date?" Mira asked looking excited.

"Well it's not a date but…" she didn't finish her sentence because Mira screamed and hugged her.

"Finally!" Mira shouted. "I've been waiting for this day for so long. When is it?"

"Tonight at sunset. But-" Annaliece said cut off again by Mira.

"Then we don't have much time." Mira said grabbing Annaliece's hands and leading her back to the lord of Dale's palace.

"Uh… time for what exactly?" Annaliece asked.

"Getting you ready for your date. Duh. You didn't think you could just walk over there when it's time did you? There's a whole process." Mira explained.

"One that will not be needed."Annaliece said pulling her hand free from Mira's.

"Oh come on Annie. Give me something here. I've been waiting for you to get a boyfriend for so long." Mira pleaded.

"He's not my boyfriend." Annaliece countered.

"Not yet." Mira corrected smiling while Annaliece looked at her annoyed. "I've seen how these things go. You think you'll never be in love with him now but soon you'll fall madly in love." Mira explained with a wink.

"I'm not madly in love." Annaliece said.

"Yet." Mira corrected.

"Besides we're just shooting in the woods." Annaliece explained "It's noon anyway. We have plenty of time before sunset anyway."

"I guess you're right." Mira said.

"Thank you." Annaliece breathed with relief.

"If it's only shooting then it should take about half the time that I originally thought to get you ready." Mira said grabbing her arm again and leading her back to the palace against her will. _I never should've told her. _Annaliece thought as Mira led her to the palace for lunch.

Meanwhile Legolas was wandering around town gathering supplies when he ran into an old friend "Gimli!" Legolas shouted as he embraced the dwarf. "What are you doing here my friend?"

"My father wanted to see how Erebor was doing since we haven't been there for a while and we stopped here for supplies." Gimli replied

"Well it's good to see you my friend." Legolas told gimli.

"First you're courting maidens and now you're hugging dwarves." Tauriel said as she walked towards Legolas.

"Have you been following me!" Legolas shouted angrily. "Are you a stalker now!"

"No. I was doing my duty when I just happened to catch you side- tracked yet again. That and your father told me to keep an eye on you to make sure you are doing what you're supposed to be doing." Tauriel said with a smile.

"Why doesn't he trust me!" Legolas cursed.

"Well judging by what you've been doing so far he has a good reason not to. I'm going to go have some lunch." Tauriel said as she left Legolas and Gimli.

"Well isn't she a ray of sunshine." Gimli said sarcastically and Legolas laughed.

"I heard that!" Tauriel shouted from down the street. And Legolas and Gimli laughed even harder.

"Now what's this I hear about courting maidens?" Gimli asked nudging Legolas' arm and smiling. "Any one in particular you find special?"

"I've only talked to one elf-maiden today besides Tauriel. And she is very special." Legolas said smiling.

"Well then tell me about her." Gimli said sitting down on a bench and gesturing for Legolas to sit down next to him. Legolas sat down and described Annaliece to him. (By the way. I modeled Annaliece's appearance by a celebrity. Claire Holt. I saw her on this TV show I used to watch and I thought she would make a good elf and that's actually how I got inspired to write this story. And Mira wears a brown dress with a white apron and she has dark black bushy hair. Just in case you were wondering about Mira's appearance too.)

"Well it sounds to me like you're in love my friend." Gimli said when Legolas finished describing Annaliece.

"I guess it's safe to say I am." Legolas said thinking about her still.

"I didn't know you could say that much about a person." Gimli said surprised. "She seems like a nice girl. I hope things work out for you."

"I hope so too." Legolas said looking sad.

"What's wrong my friend." Gimli said sitting next to Legolas.

"Well it's just that I don't think she likes me back." Legolas said with a sad look on his face.

"Are you crazy." Gimli said. "Of course she'll like you back if she doesn't already."

"You really think so?" Legolas asked looking happier.

"Of course I mean look at you." Gimli said gesturing to Legolas "Who wouldn't be in love with that. Not to mention you're a prince. Her parents are going to like that. You have looks and power. You're the total package my friend. She's a lucky girl."

"She doesn't seem to care about all of those things though. And I think that's what I like the most about her. She likes who I am." Legolas said smiling.

"That's a good thing." Gimli said putting his hand on Legolas' shoulder.

"I haven't seen you in a while my friend. How about we have some lunch." Legolas asked.

"Of course." Gimli said and the two got up to go eat. They went into a cafe nearby and sat down at a table.

"Hey I've seen you before." A dwarf maiden said to Legolas as she came over to their table.

"Who are you?" Gimli asked.

"I'm Mira." Mira said. "And you were the elf that was talking to my friend Annaliece earlier today." She said to Legolas.

"You know her?" Legolas asked as his face lit up with joy.

"Yeah I do she's my best friend." Mira said.

"What does she like?" Legolas asked eagerly "Like what should I do with her when we're shooting tonight."

"Oh my gosh. I can give you so much advice. I'm picking up lunch for us but I have some time to spare." Mira said as she sat down at the table with Legolas and Gimli answering all of Legolas' questions.

Later on that day three hours before sunset Mira was helping Annaliece get ready by washing her hunting outfit that she was going to wear that night, and doing her hair. Took to parts of her hair and twisted them back and put them together with a hair pin behind her head and added a few flowers to the twists to touch it up. Then it was 45 minutes before sunset. It was time to leave.

"Are you ready Annie?" Mira asked.


	4. Chapter 4 A Night He'll Remember

"I guess." Annaliece replied "How ready do I need to be?"

"Dates are very unpredictable you never know what's going to happen. You have to be ready for anything." Mira explained.

"I'm hanging out with an elf not going to war." Annaliece laughed.

"You've never been on a date before. You're going into unchartered territory you're not familiar with this you have to know what you're getting yourself into." Mira explained.

"You're missing the point Mira. I don't need to be prepared for a date." Annaliece reassured.

"Why not?" Mira asked.

"Because I'm not going on one!" Annaliece said.

"Of course you are." Mira replied.

"How is it a date?" Annaliece asked

"Just the two of you alone in the woods shooting arrows into the sunset. Seems pretty romantic to me." Mira said.

"One problem though. I'm not in love with him." Annaliece said. "He's just a friend and we're just shooting."

"Yeah but he doesn't see it that way." Mira said.

"What do you mean?" Annaliece asked looking a little nervous.

"Well I ran into him today at a café and he was asking me all sorts of questions about what you would like to do on your 'date'. Yeah that's right he called it a date." Mira said crossing her arms.

"Well I think he's just a friend and if he tries to be romantic I can shoot him straight." Annaliece said picking up her bow and swinging her quiver on her back. "Never go for an armed girl."

"Alright. We should get moving it's almost time for you to meet him at the gates." Mira said as she hit the wall of the room and a door opened and the two went through. Not many people knew about the secret passageways in the city of Dale. And those who did had long forgotten them. So they took the passageway straight through to the gates of Dale where Legolas was waiting with Gimli who was trying to boost his confidence with a pep talk. Annaliece silently crept out of the passageway and out into the open and Legolas spotted her and shooed Gimli away.

"Where did you come from?" Legolas asked surprised because he didn't see her come out the passageway and she appeared to have just popped up out of nowhere.

"I'll never tell." Annaliece said with a smile.

"Well I'm glad you came." He said and handed her a violet.

"You didn't have to get me anything." Annaliece said.

"I wanted to." Legolas said. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah. Violets are my favorite. So are we going shooting or what because I want to get out of here as fast as I can before I get caught."

"Of course." Legolas said and he opened the gate ever so quietly so no one would hear. "After you." He said gesturing towards the door.

"Well isn't someone a gentlemen." Annaliece said as she went out the gates and Legolas followed. Annaliece started walking towards the woods but Legolas turned towards the lake. "Where are you going? I thought we were going to the woods."

"Well I just thought it would be fun to go to the lake and watch the sunset." Legolas suggested.

"I agreed to show you how to shoot not watch the sunset with you." Annaliece replied.

"Come on don't you want to have a little fun?" Legolas asked teasingly "Or are you one of the many people who are afraid of the lake town because of the dragon carcass?"

"I'm not afraid!" Annaliece replied hotly "I'm one of the few who don't fear the lake at all!"

"Then prove it and come to the lake with me." Legolas stated. Annaliece sighed and followed him to the shore of the lake. "Are you afraid?"

"Not at all." Annaliece said unamused and Legolas looked disappointed. "What's wrong did you want me to be scared?"

"Kind of." Legolas admitted.

"Why?" Annaliece asked. "Wait a minute. Were you hoping I'd get scared so I'd be throwing myself all over you to feel safe like all those stupid girls do?" Legolas stayed silent and backed away a little bit sensing hostility. "I'm not one of those girls."

"I'm glad you're not." He replied stepping closer.

"Well then let's go shooting before it's too dark to see." Annaliece said changing the subject and heading towards the woods with Legolas following behind. They went to a clearing with archery equipment.

"Where did you get all of this?" Legolas asked as Annaliece set up four targets.

"I'll never tell." Annaliece said teasingly. "But they're not stolen don't worry."

Legolas smiled and stared at Annaliece for the longest time. She looked so beautiful in the woods with the last rays of the sun shining through the trees and shining on her in the most beautiful way. He couldn't help but stare at her entranced by her beauty. But not the beauty from her looks. While he did think that her looks were amazing he was in love with her true beauty. The beauty within. That's the beauty that he couldn't stop staring at and was attracted to. But there was something else that drew him to her. Something he couldn't explain but he felt like something inside him was telling him to be with her. "Hey what are you staring at?" Annaliece asked.

"Oh. Nothing." Legolas said embarrassed.

"Uh-huh." Annaliece said not believing him. "Well the targets are all set up so let's start shooting." Annaliece said as she stepped out of the way. "So how many arrows can you shoot so far?"

"Two. But I have successfully done three occasionaly." Legolas boasted trying to sound professional.

"Very good so this shouldn't be two hard to teach you. It's actually pretty simple. If you can shoot two you can shoot four." Annaliece explained.

"How is that?" Legolas asked.

"Arch two in your bow." Annaliece told Legolas and he did. "Now find a way to do the same thing twice on the bow." Legolas takes another two and holds his bow horizontally on his arm and holds the four arrows in place with his fingers. He aims and fires at all four targets. A few hit and some miss. "Very good. All you need now is just some practice. Now tell me."

"Tell you what?" Legolas asked a little confused.

"What you were doing in Erebor? That was our deal remember. I teach you how to shoot four arrows and you tell me what's going on there." Annaliece said.

"Well a deal's a deal." Legolas said. "But I am very interested why an elf-maiden would care about what's going on there?" Legolas asked suspicious.

"I live in the area and I would like to know what's been going on." Annaliece explained.

"Well apparently there's this witch that's been causing problems." Legolas explained "And all the nations of this area will have to band together to defeat it. If that's even possible." Legolas finished thinking of how he could persuade his father to help the dwarves.

"Hmm.." Annaliece thought. "Ok well we're even now so bye." Annaliece said as she turned to walk away Legolas when she ran into a soldier of Dale.

"You thought we wouldn't know you escaped." The soldier said and Legolas rushed over and stood in front of Annaliece so the soldier couldn't get to her.

"It's my fault she's out here I'll take any punishment that is to be bestowed upon her for sneaking out."Legolas said.

"Don't worry I'm here for both of you. You're father isn't exactly happy you're out when you have a long journey ahead of you tomorrow." The soldier said as he led them back to Dale. He dropped Legolas off with Thranduil.

"Wait Annie." Legolas said as the soldier was about to lead her back to the palace. "When will I see you again?"

"I don't know." Annaliece said as the soldier took her away and Legolas watched her go. The soldier took her back to the palace and brought her to the lord of Dale.

"So you disobeyed us again." The lord said unhappy.

"How did you find out I left?" Annaliece asked.

"We have our sources." The lord replied. "The important thing is that you disobeyed us and you will be punished."

"What's the punishment?" Annaliece said sighing.

"You'll find out when you get to Erebor." The lord finished. "Dain will decide but until then you will not be allowed to leave the palalce." Dain finished the guards led her away to her room. That night Legolas dreamt of Annaliece and Legolas was there in the back of her mind as she slept that night.


	5. Chapter 5 So it Begins

Well it's been two months since that night and matters with the witch have gotten worse. The Elves can feel the evil power rising and decide it's time to do something. They have also gotten some information. So Elrond decides it is time yet again for another council. Also it's been two months since Legolas and Annaliece have seen each other. Each other is in fact all they can think about. Legolas would write to her or try to make some kind of contact with her but he doesn't know where she lives. All he knows is that she lives around Dain and Erebor. He has gone there to search for her a handful of times but he can't find her because she's locked away in the lonely mountain. The last place he would ever expect her to be. As for Annaliece she doesn't feel the same way but for some reason she finds Legolas in her thoughts often. Their parents have caught on and are very curious about who their children's mysterious lovers are…

"Why have you called me my lord." Mira asked as she went to Dain's throne.

"You and Annie are very close. Do you know what's gotten into her? She seems to be distracted often by something. I often see her gazing out the window with a look of longing on her face." Dain asked.

"She always does that. Ever since you decided to hide her from Thranduil inside the mountain her heart has been aching to go outside and chase the wind and embrace nature like she used to do when she lived with Thorin before he and the company reclaimed Erebor." Mira replied.

"Yes but this is different. She seems troubled. Like she's debating something in her mind. Like there's something going on that she's trying to make sense out of." Dain said.

"Well I'm no help. She hasn't told me anything." Mira lied "But if I find anything out I'll tell you." Dain fell for it and dismissed Mira and she went to Annaliece's room and knocked on the door. "Hey Annie can I come in?"

"Sure" Annaliece replied through the door as she opened it to let Mira in. "What's up?"

"Dain's getting suspicious about you Annie." Mira told her. "Do you think we should tell him about Legolas?"

"No." Annaliece replied "As soon as Dain hears I've made friends with a boy he will find out more about him and if he's of some nobility which I think he is based on his clothing and manners he will make me marry him. I don't want to marry someone I don't love." Annaliece said fingering one of her arrows.

"Are you sure you don't have any feelings for him Annie?" Mira asked curiously.

"For the thousandth time I do not love him!" Annaliece shouted.

"Then why do you hold on to that violet he gave you. You treat it as if it's something of value." Mira said gesturing to the violet that Legolas had given Annaliece in a pot on her bedside table. Annaliece had replanted it and it had soon grown roots and was as healthy as ever.

"Well…" Annaliece hesitated "It's the only thing I have to remember him by. I did have fun with him that night. He often crosses my mind. I would like to see him again. If I knew where he was." Annaliece finished softly.

"A budding romance. Just as I suspected." Mira said smiling.

Meanwhile in Mirkwood Thranduil has been noticing changes in his son. He's been going to the area around Dale and Erebor on some sort of search. But when he's in Mirkwood he's depressed and his mind often wanders and he gazes out towards Erebor and Dale with a look of sadness and longing like Annaliece but Thranduil finds this strange for him considering he has freedom to go wherever he wants. He also seems to give s strange look of sadness whenever he sees a violet. And he hasn't been shooting as often as he used to. When he does he only practices shooting four arrows and he seems very determined to master it. And at the parties that he usually enjoys he seems to dance less and drink more. Opposite of what he used to do. So Thranduil decide to ask the person who seems to know his son best Gimli.

"I received your letter Thranduil." Gimli said as he walked up to Thranduil's throne. "What's wrong with Legolas?"

"I don't know. That's why I asked you to come." Thranduil said and he explained to Gimli Legolas' strange behavior and Gimli smiles and chuckles.

"Oh I know what's going on." Gimli laughed heartily.

"What is it?" Thranduil asked eagerly.

"The lad is in love." Gimli smiled.

"What?" Thranduil asked a little surprised.

"You mean you didn't pick up on that?" Gimli said.

"Well I guess there were signs." Thranduil said.

_Flashback…._

"Hello Legolas." Thranduil said as he entered his son's room. But Legolas didn't reply he just stared out his window while fingering a violet with an entranced look on his face.

"So incredible." He said to himself.

_Other flaskback…. _

"So how was your day my son?" Thranduil asked Legolas at dinner in the dining hall but again he didn't respond he just moved his food around his plate with the same entranced look. "Son?" he asked again but still no reply. He snapped his fingers in his face and Legolas snapped out of his entrancement.

"Sorry father I was just thinking about someone." Legolas said smiling

"Eh alright." Thranduil said not really caring about his son's life anyway.

_Other flashback…._

"Father I have to tell you something." Legolas said going up to his father in the hallway. "I'm in love." But Thranduil paid no attention to what he was saying.

"That's great son." Thranduil replied what he said at all and handing him a bundle of weapons. "Now take these to be cleaned."

_Flashbacks end and Thranduil returns to the present…_

"Oh." Thranduil said sitting down.

"I know right. He's been lovesick ever since Dale two months ago and it's only gotten worse." Gimli said laughing.

"My son is in love." Thranduil said pondering than smiling as he turned to Gimli and asked "So Gimli son of Gloin who is this maiden that's stolen the heart of my son?"

"A lovely young elf-maiden named Annaliece." Gimli replied smiling. "He's been saddened because he can't see her because he doesn't know where she is. He's been drinking more to ease the pain of separation I guess. And the whole violet thing is because violets are her favorite flower and he's been trying to shoot four arrows because she showed him how and he's doing it in her honor." Gimli explained.

"I guess he's more in love than I thought." Thranduil replied thinking while stroking his staff. His thoughts were interrupted by a servant carrying two letters. One addressed to gimli and the other to Thranduil.

"These were sent by lord Elrond of Rivendell." The servant said.

"But he's in Valinor." Thranduil replied

I know. But he still sent these anway it's of a matter that affects Middle Earth gravely. He sent Gimli's here because he heard news of your travels here by one of his scouts in the misty mountains. He has many scouts in all areas since that witch started stirring things up" The servant replied "I was intstructed that it is of upmost importance that you two receive these in secret." The servant said as he exited. Thranduil and Gimli opened the letters and read them. Gimli and Thranduil have finished reading Elrond's letters and look up at each other with pale faces.

"I can't believe it." Thranduil said softly and calls a servant over. "Go fetch my son and tell him to come here at once." The servant nods and leaves then brings back Legolas five minutes later.

"Why did you need to see me so urgently Father?" Legolas said as he entered the throne room.

"This wich has a ring of power my son." Thranduil said

"What?" Legolas said in shock

"This witch is a terrible threat. She has a ring of power. She will be the next Sauron." Gimli said nervously "And this time she wishes to concur all lands and consume them in the most terrible thing possible. She will be even worse than Sauron ever was."

"And so this new evil begins my friend." Legolas said looking at Gimli.


	6. Chapter 6 There's No Question About It

As soon as Thranduil got this letter he was reluctantly pushed by his son to contact the other nations about this matter so Erebor was notified of the witches growing power and they were able to contact Gandalf about it. So they arranged a council for it in Mirkwood and Dain had to go…

"Where are you going again?" Annaliece asked as Dain packed to leave.

"To Mirkwood to discuss matters about this witch." Dain replied.

_Wait a minute… Mirkwood? That's where my sister Tauriel lives! I can visit her and show her the warrior I've become! _"Can I come?" Annaliece asked eagerly.

"What?" Dain asked surprised "Why do you want to go to Mirkwood?"

"To see my sister." Annaliece replied

"You have a sister there?" Dain asked.

"Yes." Annaliece replied. "So can I please come to Mirkwood with you to visit her?"

Dain considered this for a while. _If she comes with me Legolas will most likely meet her. But then again I'm pretty sure her sister isn't somewhere near the royal palace considering Balin found her astray in the woods so that would be nowhere near Legolas and no one will no one will know who she is unless she tells them so I guess there's no harm in her coming along. _"Alright." Dain said and Annaliece got a cheerful expression on her face "But only on one condition."

"What?" Annaliece asked.

"Don't become associated with anyone but your sister. Stick with her. Stay away from the palace. Keep a low profile. Don't show that you're associated with Erebor in any way understood?"

"Yes my lord." Annaliece replied happily.

"Alright then. Pack up your stuff. We're going to Mirkwood." Dain said as he finished packing his stuff.

They traveled to Mirkwood the next day with Erebor's royal escort and Annaliece with Mira. They arrived in Mirkwood in a week and before they entered Annaliece and Mira left the royal escort and rode ahead of them on their horses so it wouldn't look like they were part of the escort and the others followed about a day behind them.

"So do you know where Tauriel is Annie?" Mira asked as they rode into Mirkwood.

"Not really." Annaliece said. "She said she was head of the Elven guard so I'm guessing at the palace but I'm not allowed to go there."

"Hm." Mira said thinking. "Maybe we can wait for her by the border. Perhaps she's on a patrol and we'll run into her there."

"Yeah maybe." Annaliece replied. "Good plan. Let's try it." The two went over to where they thought the border was and camped out there waiting for a patrol.

"I hear people coming." Mira said looking into the woods. Annaliece looked and saw some elves coming with a patrol.

"Is Tauriel with them?" Annaliece asked. Just as she said that an arrow landed right next to her and Mira readied her weapons but Annaliece stopped Mira from doing anything.

"Hello! They're shooting at us let me at 'em!" Mira said angrily at Annaliece.

"We have to prove to them that we're not enemies." Annaliece explained "Which means no shooting."

"Who goes there." A voice said and Annaliece and Mira looked up to see Tauriel.

"Tauriel!" Annaliece exclaimed with delight

"Annie?" Tauriel asked looking a little confused

"I came here to visit you." Annaliece explained "I'm sorry I wasn't able to notify you in advance. Dain doesn't let me send any letters to Mirkwood and there weren't any Ravens available."

"Why aren't there any Ravens?"

"The witch sent out a bunch of cats to destroy them all so they have their wings tied." Annaliece explains.

"Sounds like a big mess." Tauriel replied.

"You don't even know the half of it." Annaliece said. The two giggled a little then one of the elves reminded Tauriel that she had a job to do.

"I'm sorry I have to go." Tauriel said

"Oh. That's ok." Annaliece said a little disappointed. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Oooh." Tauriel said in a "That's not going to work tone"

"You're busy?" Annaliece asked.

"Booked solid." Tauriel answered

"Oh." Annaliece replied sadly "I guess I'll just wander around tomorrow."

"Hmmm…" Tauriel thought and wondered what they could do. "Maybe you could tag along?"

"I'd love to." Annaliece replied.

"Good. You can come stay with me at the palace." Tauriel said and Annaliece and Mira agreed and started walking back to the palace with the patrol.

"Didn't Dain say to stay away from the palace?" Mira whispered to Annaliece as they walked.

"He also said to stick with my sister." Annaliece whispered back. "So I guess I have to go. Besides there isn't any harm in going to the palace. It's not like something bad is going to happen as soon as I cross the threshold."

"I guess you're right." Mira replied doubtfully. They soon arrived at the palace and Tauriel led Mira and Annaliece to her room to spend the night.

"Get some good rest because we're getting up early." Tauriel told them as they climbed into their beds.

"Goodnight Tauriel and Mira." Annaliece said as she went to sleep.

"Goodnight sister. Goodnight dwarf." Tauriel said and she went to sleep.

"Goodnight Annie, goodnight…" Mira paused as she tried to think of what to call Tauriel.

"Kind elf-maiden who is letting you sleep in her room." Tauriel suggested.

"I think I should just go to sleep." Mira said and nervously lied down ready to go to bed.

"Smart dwarf." Tauriel commented and she went to sleep. The next morning Tauriel woke them up and had a quick breakfast.

"So what are we doing today?" Annaliece asked confidently after changing into her usual light shirt with a vest, britches and leather boots.

"Well we're preparing troops and doing patrols." Tauriel said as they walked through the halls. "Some of this stuff I can't bring you with me for so I'd just go do something else when I have to do that stuff."

"I guess I could go shooting." Annaliece said.

"Yeah." Tauriel responded. "You're dressed for it." She said pointing to her clothes.

"Yeah I was thinking I could go hunting since there's some stuff you can't do with me."Annaliece replied

"You could ask around for some good spots. I have to go. I'll see you around." She gave them a farewell and departed to her duties.

"So what are we going to do first?" Mira asked. "Go hunting, get you a hot Elvish boyfriend?"

"You ask that every time we go somewhere." Annaliece pointed out.

"You've been single since you were born which is how many years exactly?" Mira asked

"Don't ask a woman her age." Annaliece replied as they walked through the hall. "And I'm not…" she got cut off as she ran into someone. "Oh I'm so sorry" she said as the person turned to face her.

"It's ok I… Annie?" the person said.

"Legolas?" Annaliece said as she realized who it was.

"Annie!" Legolas exclaimed and hugged her tight afraid that if he let go he would lose her again.

"Wow you're excited to see me." Annaliece said a little freaked out by the sudden embrace. "I thought you might've forgotten about me." Annaliece said as he slowly let her go out of his strong arms.

"How in Middle-Earth could I forget about you." Legolas said as he stared into her eyes.

"Awww" Mira said ruining the moment. "Sorry." She said as the two turned to face her. "I'll just go over here." She said as she backed away to around a corner. "Right within earshot." She whispered to herself as she peeked around and listened to them.

"I would've contacted you but I didn't know where you were." Legolas said smiling a little.

"Oh. I probably should've mentioned that." Annaliece said smiling back. "It's just I live in…" she remembered that Dain told her not to tell anyone she was associated with Erebor in any way.

"Where?" Legolas asked a little confused.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you." Annaliece said.

"Oh." Legolas said a little hurt.

"It's not you." Annaliece said sensing he was hurt. She decided not to tell him why because it might cause him to ask questions.

"It's ok." Legolas said smiling again. He didn't want to press questions in fear of sounding like a stalker. "So what have you been doing these past few months?" he asked not knowing what else to say.

"Oh nothing much. What are you doing here" Annaliece asked not knowing what else to say too.

"I live here." He said with a smirk. "I'm the prince"

"Oh." Annaliece said a little surprised "Didn't see that coming." She said and laughed a little and he smiled at her.

"I've also been practicing shooting four arrows." He said trying to start a conversation.

"Great. Have you gotten any better at it?" Annaliece asked teasingly.

"Actually I think I've mastered it." Legolas said triumphantly.

"Really?" Annaliece said in disbelief. "Then I guess you'll have to show me."

"I guess I will." Legolas said smiling. "I know a good spot to go shooting. Do you want to go with me?"

"She'd love to." Mira said coming out of hiding. And Legolas looked back at Annaliece waiting for her to answer for herself.

"Why not." Annaliece said and Legolas took her hand.

"I'll show you the way." He said and they left with Mira close behind on lookout for anyone who might rat Annaliece out to Dain. She wasn't supposed to be around anyone but Tauriel and Mira didn't want anything to ruin her friend's chance at true love.

"Nice." Annaliece commented as Legolas shot four arrows at four targets at the same time in the woods. "But I've done better."

"Really?" Legolas said teasingly as he helped Annaliece down from the ledge she was sitting on. "You think you're a better archer than me?"

"Maybe." Annaliece said jokingly.

"Then I'd like to see you try." Legolas said handing her the bow.

"Challenge accepted." Annaliece said confidently as she took the bow from him. Her heart jumped a little and they both slightly blushed as their hands touched as she was taking the bow from him. She readied the bow and aimed at a target far away. She focused all her attention on the center then she released and the arrow went all the way through to the center.

"Alright I'll admit you're pretty good." Legolas said slightly impressed. "But I still don't think you're better than me." He said smiling as Annaliece rolled her eyes.

He went over to her and held her hand over where she was holding the bow and moved closer to her and the two sized each other up and looked each other in the eye and tried to look as tough as they could both a little stubborn. Annaliece looked into his eyes. His body was strong but his expression was soft. Legolas looked into Annaliece's eyes and saw almost the same thing. She had a graceful and lithe body and a firey spirit much like her sister but there was something different about her.

"Am I better than Tauriel?" Annaliece asked softly.

"So much better." Legolas said softly back but he wasn't just talking about her archery skills.

While there was energy in her there was also a gentleness and innocent expression on her face. She was more kind, loving, pure and understanding. He saw himself in her, like she understood him and he understood her back. He felt like he could love her. While there was energy in her there was also a gentleness and innocent expression on her face. She was more kind, loving, caring, pure and understanding. He saw himself in her, like she understood him and he understood her back. He felt like he could love her. She was so close to him he was tempted to kiss her and Mira was watching them from behind a tree waiting for it but he knew better than to kiss her now and give away his feelings for her when he wasn't sure if she loved him back and ruining his chance of being with her. Instead he just lightly stroked her hand. _She's amazing_ he thought as they stared at each other. Eventually Annaliece started to feel a little awkward and pulled away from his gaze and she handed him back the bow.

"Let me show you something." He said taking the bow from her. He readied the bow and aimed at a dead leaf moving frantically through the wind. He released and the arrow hit the bottom of the branch above the leaf.

"You missed." Annaliece said trying to hold back her laughter.

"Wait for it." Legolas said and she watched as the leaf fell from the branch. She went over to pick it up and studied the stem. It was cut clean off from the branch. "Well?" he said going over to her.

"I'm slightly impressed." She said throwing the leaf at his face teasingly.

"Oh come on!" he said smiling. "That was an amazing shot how can you not be impressed by that?"

"I am impressed." She said and he smiled and was about to say I told you so the she quickly said "slightly."

He rolled his eyes and threw the leaf back at her face. Then she picked up a whole handful and threw them at him and he did the same but she dodged them. Then as he picked up another handful she ran a little ways away from him and shouted teasingly "leaf me alone!" and he ran at her and she ran away from him and the two chased each other through the woods and kicked and threw leaves at each other.

"I got you!" he said as he caught up to her with a huge handful of leaves and then they both stopped short in front of Tauriel as she stared at them disapprovingly.

"Really?" Tauriel said as she plucked a leaf off of Annaliece's shirt and stared at the handful of leaves Legolas was holding and made a tisk tisk sound with her mouth. "Are you two elflings?"

"Oh come on Tauriel." Legolas said teasingly "We were just having a little fun."

"We're about to enter a war with a witch who is about to become the Sauron we don't have time for fun!" Tauriel said slightly angered.

"Like you're doing anything important!" Annaliece snapped back at her and Tauriel started to get infuriated.

"Excuse me?" she said moving closer to Annaliece and staring her down with an angered expression that made Annaliece gulp and realize she may have gone a bit too far.

"It's just…" Annaliece said stammering a little bit "You're just out for a walk in the woods and not doing anything really important so who are you to talk?" she squeaked and Tauriel grabbed her shirt and pulled her close to her.

"I'll have you know I'm on a very important mission right now and I don't need a little smart mouth to tell me otherwise!" she scolded and let her go and Annaliece stepped back a little frightened.

"Then what's so important that you're so defensive about it?" Legolas asked a little harshly as he was a bit angered by Tauriel's treatment of Annaliece.

"I'm scouting the area for your father to make sure the witch hasn't done anything to our borders and I guess I can tell him that everything is fine except for the fact that his son is playing leaf tag with the adoptive daughter of his worst enemy." Tauriel finished angrily.

"What?" Legolas said shocked and looked at Annaliece with the same shocked expression. "Where are you from Annie?"

"Erebor." She squeaked "I'm Thorin's adoptive daughter. When he died Dain took over guardianship of me and I became the princess." She said trying to smile but she felt tears coming down her cheeks.

"No." Legolas muttered under his breath _How do I explain this to my father? _He thought to himself _He will surely disapprove of my feelings toward her. Do I still even have them? _He looked at Annaliece. He couldn't help but admire her. She looked so beautiful the way the sunlight landed on her, her eyes lovely green eyes shining but slightly watery and there were tears rolling down her cheeks. This made Legolas feel upset _I'm sad when she's sad. This must mean I still love her. I do, I always will there's no question about I, I don't care who she was raised by or where she's from._ He couldn't bear to look at her upset anymore. He embraced her and wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Annaliece asked a little surprised by his affection toward her.

"Yes Legolas why?" Tauriel said starting to get a little worried _We're already about to go to war with an all-powerful witch we don't need a war with Erebor over these two to add to it. _

"Because I like you for who you are." He said smiling at her. "I don't care who your family is, and if they were the ones who made you the girl you are now than I think every elf should be raised by dwarves to turn out as wonderful as you."

"Oh Legolas." Annaliece said and she embraced Legolas back. "I feel the same way about you. I don't care about anything else just who you are." Legolas felt so happy when she hugged him back and his eyes started to water and he embraced her even tighter never wanting to let go "You're a great friend."Legolas felt a little sad at being reffered to as a friend but he would accept it for now anyway. Annaliece felt the same way even though she was slightly confused by it. Mira was overflowing with tears as she watched them while hiding in the brush and even Tauriel started to get a little teary eyed watching them but then she snapped back into reality and started to walk away and get back to her job. "Hey." Annaliece said leaving Legolas's embrace and going over to her. "Do you want to have lunch with us?" she asked kindly.

"Why?" Tauriel asked a little confused by her sister's sudden kindness towards her.

"Because it's lunchtime and you're all alone in the woods." Annaliece explained.

"I brought some food with me." Legolas explained going over to them. "But I brought some extra in case we ran into someone."

"You guys would really share your lunch with me?" Tauriel asked a little touched by Legolas and Annaliece's kindness.

"Of course. We have enough for three." Legolas said. "Why not? It'll be nice."

"Well ok." Tauriel said and they found a nice spot to sit down and eat.

The trio enjoyed each other's company and ate together happily. Mira left to find some lunch of her own and ran into Gimli who was visiting and spent the day with him. Tauriel had to go back to her duties after lunch and Legolas promised Tauriel he would keep her sister company which Tauriel was sure he would do. She also mentioned that she was free the next day and the three decided to hang out together. Annaliece and Legolas spent the rest of the day together discussing life and stuff about themselves and made each other laugh and quite frankly they both wished this day could last forever.


	7. Chapter 7 A Revealing Battle

_I wonder where they are? _Annaliece thought as she paced in front of the gates. _They should be here by now. _Just then she saw Legolas run up to her.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late." He apologized as he met up with her at the gates. "Father insisted that I attend the council with Gandalf."

"It's alright I know you're busy and don't always have spare time." Annaliece replied understandingly

"Well now I have the whole day to spend with you." He said happily looking into her eyes. He started thinking about kissing her and just as he was about to…

"Oh there's Tauriel." Annaliece exclaimed and waved at her sister.

Legolas smiled and waved back _I was so close _he thought as Tauriel appeared with Legolas's father and all of a sudden Legolas's expression changed to fear. _Oh no he can't know about Annie! _Legolas panicked and pushed her into the brush nearby the gates. "I'm really sorry but my father can't see you." Legolas apologized as Annaliece looked at him angrily from the brush.

"Son." Thranduil said happily as he came over to Legolas.

"Father." Legolas said flatly as his father came over and embraced him.

"So what have we learned today?" Thranduil asked his son as a teacher would ask their worst student a question.

"I learned that it's very important to keep my opinion to myself." He said like he was annoyed and bored out of his mind. Thranduil coughed and gave him a look "Unless I'm a King in that case my opinion is the only one that matters."

"And" Thranduil said displeased.

"I only get some say in the matter my opinion is not as important as yours by a longshot." Legolas finished annoyed.

"Good son." Thranduil said patting Legolas on the shoulder "You haven't completely lost your mind."

"Alright father." Legolas said a little confused as his father walks away and Tauriel meets him.

"What was that about?" Annaliece asked Legolas as he turned to help her out of the brush. "He seems so disappointed in you."

"He always is." Legolas sighed. "Nothing I ever do seems to be enough for him. "He never seems to be proud of me at all."

"How sad." Annaliece said and a sad expression came across her face. Legolas looks at her sad face and feels upset

"I'm sorry if I've depressed you." Legolas apologized. "Let's forget about my father and focus on what we're going to do today." They both smile.

"Oh Tauriel I have a very important task for you." Thranduil said as Tauriel was on her way over to meet Legolas and Annaliece.

"What may I do for you my King?" Tauriel asked professionally.

"I need you to spy on my son." Thranduil stated. "Find out who this girl he's madly in love with is."

Tauriel's eyes widened at that statement. _I knew Legolas might be in love with my sister. But how does Thranduil know he's in love? Well he is his son so he should know but how did he catch on so quickly and why is he taking such drastic measures to have someone spy on him? What will happen if he finds out who Annaliece is? Should I just tell him now and get this whole mess over with? _She was about to tell him but then she looked over her shoulder and saw Legolas helping Annaliece out of the brush. She could hear them laughing and she smiled at how stuck Annaliece was on that one thorn bush and she remembered how happy they were yesterday and how kind Annaliece was to her. _I did enjoy their company yesterday and I might be rewarded if I tell Thranduil after today as part of my spying mission. There is this promotion I've been wanting. I'll keep their little secret for today and tell him when we come back._

"What is it?" Thranduil asked as he sensed Tauriel's mind wandering.

"Hm?" Tauriel asked coming back to reality.

"Is something wrong?" Thranduil asked again. "Is there something you know about this matter we speak of?"

"No." Tauriel lied. "I know nothing of this girl that your son is swooning for." _Well that was easier than I thought. I thought it would be almost impossible for me to lie to him._ She started to feel guilty about lying _You'll tell him about Annie today and you don't even know if she's the girl Legolas's in love with or if he even is in love. For all you know it could be his imagination. Besides hoe's he going to know you lied. And the lie will be worth it this afternoon when you get that promotion._

"Alright." Thranduil answered. "Tell me at once if you find out anything."

"I shall do as you wish my King." Tauriel replied as Thranduil left and she went to join Legolas who had finally gotten Annaliece out of the thorn bush hidden in the brush and the two were laughing and congradulating each other over their victory. "What were you two doing out here?" Tauriel asked trying not to laugh.

"Oh you know. Beating around the bush." Legolas joked and Annaliece burst out into laughter and Tauriel pretended to laugh even though she didn't understand the joke and it was pretty obvious that she was faking it which made Legolas and Annaliece laugh even more.

"Ok how about we go shooting in the woods?" Tauriel suggested after the two quieted down.

"Alright." Legolas said "Just don't sniff the sap." When he said that he and Annaliece burst out into laughter.

"What?" Tauriel asked confused.

"Inside joke." Legolas laughed.

"We saw this squirrel yesterday in the woods and he sniffed the sap on this tree and his nose got stuck and as we tried to get him out the rest of him got stuck." Annaliece laughed.

"And Annie had to pull him out." Legolas said continuing the story "Then when she finally got it out of the tree it jumped in her clothes and I had to help her get it out."

"What?!" Tauriel shouted alarmed. "You were giving her a feel down?!"

"Hey it was sticky and it and it couldn't stay there so I just helped her get it out." He said holding his hands up.

"Listen here mister!" she said taking out a knife and holding it to his neck "Don't get handsy with my sister or I will use this!"

"Whoa hey calm down Tauriel." Annaliece said pulling Tauriel away from Legolas. "He's just kidding. We made a bet and he lost so he had to say that. His body was on his body relax he wasn't touching me at all. And if he was he'd learn his lesson pretty quick and be unconscious for three days or more." She said while making a fist and pounding it in her hand and looking at Legolas.

"Unless you like it." Legolas said poking at her playfully and Annaliece punched him playfully in the arm.

"Okay." Tauriel said somewhat relieved. "Didn't need that image in my head. Ew. Let's just go shall we?"

"Fine with us." Legolas and Annaliece said at the same time.

They walked towards the woods and Annaliece explained yesterday to Tauriel and the bet that if she couldn't hit an acorn out of a tree then she would have to get drunk at a tavern and admit that Legolas would always be the superior archer.

"And who's idea was it for you to get drunk?" Tauriel asked glaring at them and Legolas raises his hand and blushes. _I think I know why he'd want her drunk. _She thought to herself and made an "I'm watching you." motion with her hand.

And if she did hit it then Legolas would have to do something dangerous which was angering Tauriel and admit that she was the better archer. Tauriel started to get a little annoyed as they appeared to have an inside joke for everything she said and she felt very out of the loop and awkward. They finally arrived in the forest and were shooting arrows when out of nowhere Tauriel silenced them and looked concerned.

"What is it?" Annaliece asked nervously and Legolas stood up and then she heard what they were hearing and they all went and looked over a ridge into a deep part of the forest.

"Orcs." Tauriel said disgusted. "The witch must have sent them to destroy us."

"This is bad." Legolas said getting up "I need to tell my father at once." As he left and arrow shot him in the shoulder and he fell over.

"Legolas!" Tauriel and Annaliece shouted together. They both leaned over him then Tauriel readied her two daggers and prepared to fight. "Are you alright?"Annaliece asked and Legolas sat up and brushed Annaliece's hair out of her face and smiled at her "I'm fine." He replied and stood up and readied his bow and Annaliece did the same.

"There's a lot." Tauriel said and gulped. "They had been spotted and the head orc sent out all of the troops out after them"

"Why is he sending out so many?" Annaliece exclaimed shocked. "There's only three of us we're not that much of a threat."

"We are if they don't want anyone to know about their presence." Tauriel said seriously.

"I guess they're not well trained then if they have to spring a surprise attack." Annaliece commented.

"That may be in our favor but there are too many we have to leave now!" she exclaimed as arrows shot passed her head and the three of them bolted into the woods.

"They're gaining on us!" Legolas shouted as the warg riders chased them into the woods and shot at them. Legolas turned to face one and slashed at it with one of his daggers but it dodged and ripped out the arrow that was in his shoulder and Legolas cried out in pain it was about to stab him but Annaliece cut off his arm and he howled in pain as Legolas finished it off with a stab in the stomach.

"Nice work." He commented.

"Thanks." Annaliece responded smiling at Legolas.

"There's still more." Tauriel reminded them as orcs started to circle around them. An orc aimed for Annaliece and was about to shoot her but legolas quickly got it then more shot at them and Legolas got in front of Annaliece shielding her as they both shot at the orcs. They were starting to get tired and more of them started coming. Tauriel got a worried look on her face and they all got a look on their faces that showed that they knew these may be their last few moments.

_ Should I tell her now? _Legolas thought as he looked at Annaliece and all the orcs surrounding them grinning devilishly. _This may be the only chance I get to tell her I love her. I should do it now then I can die knowing that she knows my heart._ He moved over to her and squeezed her hand and tried to smile at her to make her feel a little happier. Annaliece saw what he was trying to do and smiled back. _He's been so kind to me since I met him._ Annaliece thought as she smiled at him_ It's a shame this has to end before I really got to know him. _She looked out beyond the circle and noticed a wide cliff and a wide branch not too far out of her range of shooting above she, Legolas and Tauriel. "Tauriel." Annaliece whispers. "Pass me your rope."

"Why?" Tauriel whispered back. _If this is another one of her rash ideas like the ones she used to have when we were kids._

"Just trust me." Annaliece pleaded in a whisper. _Well _Tauriel thought _We're going to die anyway might as well let her die satisfied. _Later on she would admit that she had a little bit of faith in Annaliece. Tauriel handed her the rope as the orcs readied their bows and other weapons. Annaliece quickly tied the rope to the end of one of her arrows and shot it towards a branch flung the rope on the branch so it secured in a loop and she swung on it and took out the lead orc as it was about to shoot her. She got on the warg and rode off on it and all the other orcs followed her and Tauriel and legolas took out as many as they could that were still trying to harm them. The warg fought at her hard but she managed to push it on towards the cliff with a majority of the orcs behind her chasing her on. _Just a little bit farther _she thought as they neared the cliff. Legolas looked out to were Annaliece was riding and let out a cry and ran towards her killing as many orcs as he possibly could while trying to get to her."Don't come after me Legolas I'm saving you!" she called out back to him.

"No!" Legolas cried as he saw her reach the cliff. Then the land beneath the orc Annaliece was riding stopped and she and the orc went over the cliff with a majority of the orc army going over after her. Their sight wasn't that good because they had been in caves so long so they followed their comrades to their deaths. The third that was left was quickly delt with by Legolas and Tauriel. They killed most of them and the rest fled to the woods away from them. Legolas ran back over to the cliff where Annaliece went over.

"Annie!" He called out in desperation. He heard no reply and tears started to roll down his cheeks and the same happened to Tauriel. Legolas looked over his shoulder and saw a cluster of lilacs growing by a tree. He remembered that they were her favorite and carefully picked one and kissed one of the petals and was about to drop it over the cliff when he heard a cry from below. He and Tauriel looked and saw far below off to the side Annaliece clinging to a branch for dear life. "Annie!" Legolas called out in joy when he saw her. He quickly ran back to the tree where the rope was hanging and grabbed it and ran back over to the cliff below the branch where Annaliece was and threw it over.

"It won't reach her." Tauriel said when the rope had reached its full length. "It's only off by a little though." Tauriel explained as she thought of an idea. "You're the strongest Legolas. Hold onto the rope while I climb down and get Annie." At first Legolas looked at her doubtfully.

"What if I'm not strong enough." Losing Tauirel he could cope with eventually but losing her and the girl he had feelings for when he could've saved her would be unbearable.

"You're the strongest out of us two and I'm the most lightweight. If you need any extra support use the tree back here." She said gesturing towards the tree behind them. Legolas sighed and set uo the rope for Tauriel to climb it. When he was finished Tauriel started her descent down to Annaliece. When Tauriel got close enough she could see that she was beginning to struggle and the branch was as well trying to support her weight. Tauriel went down as quickly as she could and eventually made it to Annaliece.

"Tauriel." Annaliece said relieved when her sister made it to her. Tauriel reached out her hand to Annaliece. "Grab my hand." Annaliece's once shining green eyes were quickly filled with fear.

"You're too far away." She replied as she looked at the distance between her and Tauriel.

"Just stand on the branch for a minute and you'll be close enough to reach." Tauriel responded. She saw the fear in Annaliece's eyes and her mind immediately flashed back to the last time she saw Annaliece like this all those years ago when Nauru was attacked by a dragon and they were the only survivors. She thought about how hard she had been on her sister then and that's what drove her away. "You can do this." Tauriel told her calmly "You're strong enough." She said and held out her hand. "I lost you once. I'm not going to lose you again." When Annaliece heard this she swung up on the branch and stood on it and just as it was cracking Tauriel grabbed her wrist and pulled Annaliece up to her with all of her strength. Legolas saw the tug in the rope and ran over to see if Tauriel got her. When he saw them both he smiled and pulled them back up to safety. As soon as Annaliece's feet touched the ground Legolas swept her off them and hugged her tight.

"I thought you were dead." He said as he out her back on the ground. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

"I'll try hard not to." Annaliece half-promised and the two smiled at each other. Tauriel coughed and the two turned to face her.

"Thanks for saving my life Tauriel." Tauriel said sarcastically.

"I could never thank you enough." Annaliece said as she ran over to Tauriel and hugged her.

"That's more like it." Tauriel replied after the hug. "Now how about we go back to your father Legolas and tell him of our amazing victory."

"Our?" Legolas questioned. "Annie was the real hero today." He said putting his arms around her shoulders.

"Whatever. Either way your father needs to know of this." Tauriel explained and the trio made their way back to the palace. When they entered palace grounds Mira ran up to Annaliece and hugged her.

"I thought you were dead!" Mira exclaimed as she ran up to Annaliece.

"Did you hear of the battle?" Tauriel asked Mira.

"There was an elf nearby who heard the commotion and reported it to the King." Mira explained. "Everyone knows about it." After Mira said that they saw elves sending them praise for their valiance as they walked to the throne room. They entered and saw Thranduil sitting on his throne watching them as they came in. _So this is the third elf _he thought as he saw Annaliece. He studied her as the trio made their way towards him. She was quite beautiful despite the small wounds from the battle and he had never seen an elf with such brilliant green eyes. He saw his son look towards her with a soft expression with a hint of longing in it. When Legolas noticed Thranduil's study of her some protectiveness came out of that gaze. The trio bowed before him and Thranduil ordered Annaliece to come before him. She bowed low and then stood to face Thranduil.

"Who are you?" Thranduil asked Annaliece.

"My name is Annaliece." Annaliece replied formally to Thranduil. Thranduil's eyebrows raised and all of a sudden everything he had been conspirisizing about his son clicked into place.


	8. Chapter 8 Can't Keep it a Secret Forever

"You're Annaliece?" Thranduil said curiously remembering that Gimli had said that Legolas was in love with a girl named Annaliece.

"Yes." Annaliece replied curiously "Have you heard of me?" _Did Dain mention me to him? Does Dain know I'm in the palace… _Her heart rate increases and she starts too look a little frightened.

_She's frightened… _Thranduil thought sensing Annaliece's fear _she should be. _Legolas senses Annaliece's fear and starts to go over to her to comfort her but Thranduil holds out his hand commanding him to stop and Legolas watches nervously.

_If he finds out who she is… _Legolas thought _there's no way he'll ever let me be with her. _He watches as Thranduil circles Annaliece and studies her.

_She is quite beautiful _Thranduil perused _athletic _he noted her bow _her appearance would be flawless if not for the small wounds from the battle. But my son wouldn't fall this hard for a pretty face no matter how lovely. There must be something about her he loves but I just can't seem to find it._

"Perhaps I have." Thranduil thought aloud tapping his fingers to his lips. "How did you find yourself here in my kingdom Annaliece?"

"I came to visit my sister Tauriel." Annaliece replied as confidently as she could. She knew how touchy royalty could be and tried to be sure she wouldn't insult him by being too casual or saying the wrong thing and insulting him.

"Tauriel." Thranduil answered and raised an eyebrow slightly towards her and stopped at Annaliece's right side. "How come you never mentioned to me you had a sister?"

"I was never questioned about it your highness." Tauriel replied formally.

"Yes but when you were trying to become a soldier and you were asked about your family why didn't you mention her." Thranduil said as he glanced back at Annaliece.

Tauriel closed her eyes and sighed. "Because I thought she was…dead your highness." She replied. Thranduil smiled realizing he was getting close.

"Why would you think this Tauriel?" Thranduil asked.

"Because when we were elflings in our parent's kingdom a dragon attacked us killing everyone except Annaliece and I." Tauriel replied.

"Why weren't you killed?" Thranduil asked.

"Because our parents saved us." Tauriel said.

"Then how were you separated?" Thranduil asked. "You said you thought she was dead." He gave a slight grin.

"In the wilderness we camped in after we escaped we had a childish fight and lost each other. When I realized she was missing I heard wargs howling and thought she was killed." Tauriel said and she and Annaliece exchanged a look of sorrow.

"How did you happen to find her again Tauriel?" Thranduil asked and smiled knowing that he was getting close and Tauriel and Legolas start to get nervous. They would have to come up with a lie soon and it had to be a good one to fool Thranduil.

"I ran into her in Rivendell when we visited last week." Tauriel thought up quickly. _We were there last week and elves from all over are there so it's not unlikely. _

"But we have been there before and you hadn't seen her then." Thranduil responded picking up on the fact that it was a lie.

"Well… you see…" Tauriel was then cut off by Annaliece.

"I was only visiting Rivendell." She said after cutting off Tauriel.

"Where were you visiting from then Annaliece?" Thranduil asked.

"Lorien." Annaliece confidently lied"

"What status are you of there?" Thranduil asked. _She'll probably say she's of a lowly status._

"I am of a lowly status." Annaliece replied and Thranduil slightly grinned as his suspicion that it was a lie was starting to be confirmed. "But I am friends with Galadriel." Annaliece finished and Thranduil then looked slightly confused as he didn't know what to make of this. _It's not a complete lie. _Annaliece thought. _I've been to Lorien a few times and I've gotten to know Galadriel. _ Thranduil stared at Annaliece curiously. Usually he can detect lies like this but this time he was stumped.

"Well…uh…" Thranduil didn't know what to say next for the first time in his life. Tauriel and Legolas smile as they see Thranduil believe Annaliece's lie. They both knew that this was the first time Thranduil had met someone he couldn't trick. _Smart too _Legolas thought _What else can this already amazing elf-maiden do? _

"Is that all?" Annaliece asked proudly knowing that she had beaten him at his own game.

"Yes." Thranduil said like a child that had just lost an argument with his mother. Legolas laughs a little and Thranduil shoots him an angrily glance and Thranduil exits quickly avoiding further humiliation. Before he leaves he turns "I'm very impressed with you three. I've never known three elves that can work together so well that they can take down an entire flank of orcs." He exits.

"Wow." Legoals said impressed. "You're the first person I've met who can get away with that." He smiles at her and she blushes.

"Thank you." She replies smiling at the ground.

"I didn't know you were that clever." Tauriel replies patting Annaliece on the shoulder.

"Well I've changed since I was that little elfling." Annaliece said.

"You definitely have." Tauriel said proudly to her sister.

Thranduil ordered extra patrols around Mirkwoods borders in case of any more orc armies. News has spread through Mirkwood of the trio's bravery. Everyone is very impressed with their work but also curious of who the third member of the group is. Dain stayed in his room most of the time because he hated the elves and wanted no part of them. So he tried to avoid them as much as he can. So he didn't even notice the fact his adoptive daughter was in the palace with the person she's supposed to be spending time with and the person that he wants her nowhere near. Gandalf left to go back to Valinor to Elrond with the news of the impending doom. Thranduil is throwing a feast in honor of the trio's great work.

"Thranduil must be really grateful of what we did." Annaliece said as she, Legolas, and Tauriel walk towards the feast.

"A little too grateful." Tauriel stated in a conspiric sense.

"Well my father throws a party for just about everything." Legolas pointed out. "Now I guess he has a real reason too." They go to the feast and everyone cheers for them and they sit in seats of honor.

"Wow your dad went all out." Annaliece said taking in the scenery and the amount of food that was set out.

"This is nothing." Legolas replied. "You should've seen the party he threw when he thought the dwarves were dead." Annaliece gives him an offended look. "Oh right I forgot that you…"

"Yeah."Annaliece said "You're so sensitive." She commented sarcastically and they sat down at the head of the table and everyone cheered for them and Thranduil entered.

"These three elves have saved all of our lives from the orc menace." He introduced. "And they will be greatly rewarded for their bravery." He motions for the trio to stand. Dain watches and his eyes widen when he sees Annaliece but he stays quiet in the hope that they don't know who Annaliece really is. "From what information I have gathered from an orc that a patrol captured it seems that the elf maiden Annaliece was the most valliant in this attack." Thranduil gestured to Annaliece and everyone applaudes her and she blushes and looks a little nervous and Legolas stands closer to her.

"Don't worry." Legolas whispers into her ear "I'll protect you from their applause." He jokes and they both smile at each other. Thranduil and Tauriel look curiously and then they look at each other and the same thought passes between them and some of the elves at the feast share the same look as their prince stares longingly into the eyes of a beautiful elf maiden and Dain looks worried. Thranduil starts to speak again and they stop staring at each other.

"Tauriel?" Thranduil asked Tauriel.

"Yes my lord?" Tauriel replied seriously.

"How well did you're sister fight today?" Thranduil asked.

"She's the bravest and most skilled archer I've ever seen." Tauriel replied. "She's an excellent warrior and she should be highly praised." Annaliece and her sister smile at each other.

"She will be." Thranduil replied. "Annaliece of Lorien for your bravery and skill on the battlefield I would like to award you the high honor of being head of my elven guard."

"What?!" Tauriel and Legolas exclaimed at the same time while everyone applauded.

"Well she still has to decide whether she wants it or not." Thranduil reminded them and all eyes turned on her and she blushed and she started to get nervous as the hushed tension fell over the clearing in the woods.

"I…uhh…" she started and stammered and Legolas reached for her hand and held it and stroked it and gave her a comforting smile. _He's so kind to me… _she thought as he looked into her eyes. She held his hand back and he gave her a look that said follow your heart andshe started to get lost in his eyes and in her mind the rest of the gathering faded away and she found herself moving closer next to him. "Yes." She replied to his gaze aloud and the elves applauded loudly and their gaze broke and they were brought back to the feast and Annaliece looked at Tauriel and she shot her an angry glance and looked away from her. "I said that out loud didn't I?" she asked Legolas.

"You sure did. Head Guard Annie." He replied to her hand Thranduil shook her hand rather hard. _What is she doing? _Dain thought to himself. _She isn't staying here she can't take this job! Unless she plans to remain... _Dain let out a soft growl and looked upon her angrily as he thought this then he calmed down. _Maybe it'll be ok for a little while I mean they don't know who she is Thranduil clearly pointed that out so I guess maybe for a month or so with her own kind wouldn't do much harm. _He smiled a little. "Congradulations Annie." Legolas smiled and the two looked at each other and remembered everything that they had went through because they didn't know what else to do at the time and the forest around them faded away and instead of shaking hands like they were supposed to they hugged and Legolas almost kissed her then a loud gasp from all the elves brought them back to reality and they stared at the crowd of elves. Half of them were gossiping.

An elf maiden said "First comes warrior then comes guard then princess? I don't think that's how it's supposed to go."

"Oh leave them alone." The elf maiden she gossiped to retorted. "I think they're an adorable couple and I'm so glad Legolas is forever alone like we all thought he would be since it's taken him over 5,000 years to find someone." The elves whistled at them and Legolas looked angry and put his arm in front of Annaliece trying to shield her from the crowd a little. _I knew I couldn't keep my feelings for her a secret much longer_ he thought while angrily watching the crowd _I just didn't want them to find out like this._

"Ooohh Look he's being protective." One elf maiden commented to her friends "That's a definite sign." Thranduil watched the crowd and was very displeased by it and Dain watched angrily _She is coming home immeadiately _Dain thought angrily and he growled a little bit.


	9. Chapter 9 Lost

"Legolas what was the meaning of that!" Thranduil scolded his son.

"What?" Legolas asked thinking the hug wasn't that big of a deal.

"You were giving affection to that peasant!" Thranduil scolded and held his son's arm harder.

"So I gave her a congratulatory hug that's not such a big deal." Legolas explained.

"Yes it is." Thranduil reminded him "That hug was long and passionate I heard what those elves were saying they think you have feelings for her and then they'll want you to marry her."

"So what?" Legolas replied sharply tearing his arm from his father's grip. "What's wrong with me giving her affection. Maybe I like her. Maybe I will marry her" Thranduil looked alarmed by his son's response

"Tauriel I'm sorry!" Annaliece screamed out after Tauriel as she walked quickly away from the feast a little ways off from Thranduil and Legolas trying to hide her shame.

"Why in middle earth would you take my job!" Tauriel shouted back at Annaliece.

"Annaliece I didn't mean to I-" she tried to explain but couldn't find out how. Legolas turned away from his father and watched with sorrow in his eyes as he saw the two sisters fight.

"Annie!" she heard an angry shout from behind her and turned to see Dain. "I told you to stay away from the palace and with your sister!"

"I was she lives in the palace she's Tauriel." Annaliece explained. "So I was staying close to my sister I followed the rules."

"Did you know she lived in the palace?" Dain asked

Annaliece sighed. _Lying will only get me into more trouble _"Yes." Dain grabbed her arm and pulled her down so she was face to face with him.

"You tricked me into letting you come here so you could betray us and join Mirkwood's guard you lying deceitful-" he slaped her hard across her face and a few moments later Dain was forcefully pushed over by Legolas who had rushed over as fast as he could once he saw Annaliece was hurt.

"Why did you hit her!" Legolas shouted angrily at Dain as he was on the ground too in shock to answer. After not hearing a reply from Dain for a while heard Annaliece sniffle a little and start to tear up a little as she touched the red mark on her nose and on her cheek. "Annie…" His expression immediately turned from one of rage and anger to one of sadness and caring and he went over to Annaliece kneeling on the ground and helped her up then he hugged her and rested her head against his chest and rested his head on top of hers. "It's alright." He said softly as he comforted her. "I won't let him hurt you again." Annaliece puts her hands up on his chest and rests her head against his chest and he put his hand against her head and wiped away her light tears from her pain and wrapped his other arm below her shoulders. _He's so sweet and kind to me _Annaliece thought as she let herself become enclosed in his embrace _No one but Thorin when I was upset when I was little has ever held me like this. I like it, I feel so comfortable and safe._ Annaliece smiles at her thought

"Awww." They all look and see some elves leaving the feast watching the embrace. Mira and Gimli followed the elves out and they smile at each other when they see them together. Thranduil's face starts to turn red as he sees the elves adoring his son's affair and he goes over to them and grabs Annaliece's waist and pulls her from the prince's embrace and pushes her away and Dain takes her and grabs her wrist and holds her tight and like a pet owner pulling their dog on a leash he pulls her away from Legolas and Thranduil does the same for his son.

"Where are we going now?" Annaliece asked angrily.

"Home." Dain replied. "First thing in the morning tomorrow." He brought her to his room in the palace and told her to go to bed then he shut the door and Annaliece heard the door lock behind him.

"Why did you hit her Dain?" Thranduil asked Dain when he left the room.

"Because she disobeyed me." Dain replied frustrated.

"You're her guardian?" Thranduil asked confused.

"Uhhh… no." Dain replied and smiled sheepishly. Thranduil gave him a look knowing that it was a lie.

Dain sighed. "Fine. Thorin found her orphaned in the woods and took her in and raised her as his own the when he died I and the other dwarves of the company took over guardianship of her."

"Oh so she is the princess?" Thranduil asked thinking of a brilliant political move.

"Yes and don't get any ideas I'm never letting her anywhere near your son again so you are never getting your filthy Elvish hands on our gold!" Dain warned.

"Oh I wasn't even considering that possibility Dain." Thranduil said with a smirk.

"Yeah right." Dain said suspiciously and Thranduil smiled. Meanwhile Legolas and Mira came to Dain's room door.

"It's this one." Mira told Legolas and he unlocked the door and went inside.

"Annie are you…" he stopped and turned bright red when he saw her coming out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel on. "naked." He said as he stared at her with the towel on. She sees them and her face turns red and she squeals and runs back into the bathroom and locks the door. Legolas knocks on the bathroom door. "Annie? Are you ok?"

"Don't you knock first before coming into the room!" Annaliece screams at him from the bathroom.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to come and make sure you were ok. I thought Dain might have hurt you again and I wanted to make sure you were alright." Legolas says in a concerned tone. Annaliece slightly smiles as she leans against the bathroom door. _That's so sweet of him to come and check on me ._Annaliece thought to herself. _I guess I shouldn't be so hard on him he only wanted to make sure I was ok. _She gets changed and goes back outside the door. "I'm sorry I should've knocked." Legolas apologized.

"How did you even get in here?" Annaliece asked

"My father's master key." Legolas explained. "It opens every Elvish door ever made."

"Impressive." Annaliece commented.

"Keep it a secret though." Legolas mentioned.

"Will do." Annaliece replied.

"Here's some stuff for that slap mark on your face." Legolas said and gave her a little box with medicine in it.

"Thank you that's so sweet of you." Annaliece replied as she took the box. She and Legolas looked at each other awkwardly for a while then Legolas finally spoke.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Legolas said softly.

"No you won't." Annaliece said slightly sad.

"What do you mean? Are you leaving?" Legolas asked with a sadness in his voice. Annaliece nods and tears up a little bit. Legolas tears up and goes over to her and hugs her. "You weren't supposed to come here were you?" Annaliece nods again and Legolas holds her tighter. "I'll come visit whenever I have time."

"I'd like that." Annaliece replied and smiled and she closed her eyes and felt the warmth of his embrace. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." Legolas tears up a little bit and rubs her back. Mira watches teary eyed.

"Thanks for everything Legolas." Annaliece said and smiled.

"Thank you for giving me the time of day." Legolas replied and closed his eyes and embraces her warmth and smiles.

"I'd give it to you any day." She replied and smiled.

"Give what to him any day?" Dain asked standing in the doorway glaring at Annaliece and Legolas angrily. A protectiveness came over Legolas and he gave a glare back and held Annaliece tighter in his arms and turned her away from Dain a little. "Get out." He said with a sway of his hand pointing towards the door.

Legolas whispered in Annaliece's ear "Just scream and I'll take care of him." They both looked into each other's eyes and Legolas slowly let her out of his arms and left.

Dain didn't strike Annaliece. But the next morning he dragged her out to the rest of the dwarf company and they set out into the woods. But just as they were leaving a strange spark of light went streaming by Arete's face and she bolted into the forest with Annaliece on her back. Legolas was riding towards the company in secret to give Annaliece one last goodbye and as soon as he saw Arete bolt he rode his horse out after her. Dain had sent dwarves out after Annaliece but their ponies weren't even close to the speed of Arete and Legolas's horse. Arete may have galloped for miles upon miles before Legolas finally caught up to her and slowed Arete down. Once they stopped Legolas got off of his horse and went over to Annaliece who had dismounted Arete and sat down on a tree stumps in shock. Legolas went over to her and held her hands.

"Are you alright?" Legolas asked her with a look of worry on his face.

"Fine." Annaliece replied with a slight smile. "Where are we?"

Legolas stood up and took a long look around the woods then turned back to Annaliece and said "I don't know." In a stern and serious tone.


	10. Chapter 10 Alone in the woods

"What do you mean you don't know?" Annaliece asked as she began to get a nervous expression on her face.

"I've never been in this part of the woods before." Legolas said to her "We've gone deeper than I thought. Your horse must be really fast." He went over to Arete and stroked her mussle. Annaliece smiled at him sheepishly then her expression turned worried. Legolas went over to her and held her hands once more. "Don't worry I'll get us out of here promise." He gave her a charming smile and she smiled back at him reassuringly and he takes her hand and she stands up.

"Do you have any kind of idea of where we might be?" Annaliece asked.

"I think." Legolas replied "I said I would get us out of here didn't I?" Annaliece slightly smiled at him and stroked Arete's muzzle and Legolas went over to his horse and started walking. "Are you coming?"

"Huh?" Annaliece said looking up from Arete "Oh yeah right." She lead her horse up to Legolas and his and they started walking.

They couldn't ride through this part of the forest because the branches were so low and close together that they wouldn't be able to fit under them. They walked for a while with Legolas leading the way as he knew the forest best. But his mind wasn't entirely focused on the forest. He found himself often looking upon Annaliece and admiring her tranquil beauty. She was like a swan beautiful, elegant and peaceful but had a strong spirit that would never back down from a fight if threatened and Legolas thought of her as the most beautiful and spirited creature he had ever seen. He sometimes mourned the fact that she was in the woodland realm of his father. Such a beautiful and bright girl in such a gloomy and dreadful forest. She was like hope itself imprisoned in darkness. This mourning just pressed him on further to get her out of this dark forest and back into the light of the world. He walked beside her for a while and gazed upon her in admirance when she wasn't looking at him. But as soon as she turned her gorgeous head towards him he looked the other way and pretended to be focused on navigation rather than her lovely person. He knew in his heart that it could never be because their nations were rivals for so long and his father's racism would surely keep him from her loving arms if they even had love towards him. She was compassionate towards him but always in a friendly way. Sometimes when they stared into each other's gaze he saw hints of love towards him and his heart leapt with joy but then something always interrupted them that caused him to reluctantly turn his gaze away from her lovely eyes and to the depressing reality. Her eyes were what Legolas loved about her most. They were green like new grown plants and they shone like the stars. They had a magical and enchanting quality about them that whenever he saw them made him stare at her in awe and he lost his breath every time he saw her. They continued on through the forest and the path was either getting smaller or the horses were moving closer together but all Legolas knew was that he was walking closer to Annaliece and his heart was set in motion. They were now standing close enough to one another that as their arms swayed as they walked their fingers touched briefly and Annaliece's cheeks would turn a light red and she would look away trying to make it look like she hadn't meant for it to happen when sometimes she actually did. She didn't know what it was but there was something comforting about him being close to her and it also made her heart beat a mile a minute. Her heart leapt every time their fingers touched and she swayed her arm so they would touch again but this time Legolas looped his finger into hers and she turned and looked at him. His gaze was yearning to be closer to her and he lightly wrapped his hand around hers and he saw those hints of love for him in her eyes and they started to reveal themselves more and he grasped her hand so it fit like a glove in his and his yearning for her became more hungry and he slowly reached out his hand held her slightly rosy cheek and their faces slowly got closer together and they could feel each other's breath on their lips. Then Arete pulled away from Legolas and his horse and took Annaliece with her and Legolas momentarily despaired when Annaliece was pulled away from him. Then he relaxed when he saw Annaliece get tugged along gently by Arete to a stream where the horse stopped and drank. Annaliece looked back at Legolas and they both looked at each other and smiled at the hilarity of the situation. Then Legolas noticed his horse Argo (yes it is the horse he got from Eomer. Eomer let him keep Argo as part of his reward for his service in aiding Rohan at Helms Deep etc.) go over to the stream with the reins dragging on the ground and he stopped by Arete and drank from the stream. Annaliece couldn't help but laugh at Legolas's carelessness at dropping the reins and he chuckled and watched the two horses drink.

"This will be a good place to rest for lunch." He said coming over to Annaliece. She took some food out of her bag and gave some to Legolas as he didn't have any since this was an unexpected journey and they sat on a rock and ate together while listening to the tranquil sounds of the stream though the sounds were numerously interrupted by the horses splashing at one another. "They seem like they're having fun." Legolas commented watching the two horses play together.

Annaliece giggled. "I guess they are." She watched Arete playfully bite Argo and Argo nip her back. After a while Argo gave up and drooped his head and started to walk away then Arete rubbed her head against Argo's in a comforting manner. "Aw."

"She's so sweet to him." Legolas commented.

"And it looks like he's just as sweet back." Annaliece commented watching the affection Arete was getting from Argo.

"You're a lot like Arete." Legolas said. "You both are spirited and smart and…" He felt himself starting to drift away into a lengthy description of everything that made her perfect and then he caught himself and just stopped it there not wanting to make a rambling fool of himself. Annaliece smiled at him and moved in closer to him and held his hand.

"You're sweet." She replied and rested her head on his shoulder. "Maybe that's where Argo gets it from." Legolas's heart started to beat a mile a minute again and he looked at her peacefully resting her head on his strong shoulder. He stared into her eyes for the longest time. _Those bright beautiful green eyes. _He thought to himself and his gaze drifted to her ruby lips and his eyelids fluttered and he leaned in to kiss her once more but then an orc arrow went whizzing passed them and hit a tree by them and Legolas got his bow ready in a second and shot in the direction the arrow came from and he heard a screech and then silence. "Is it dead?" Annaliece asked worried that there might be more.

"I'm pretty sure." Legolas replied seriously. "But let's not stick around to be sure." Legolas was also concerned that there could be more traveled onward unharmed and then night fell and they made camp. They sat together and ate by the fire while horses grazed by a nearby tree then Annaliece yawned and went to sleep on the ground and Legolas kept watch. But instead of watching the forest he was mainly watching her. _She's so beautiful_ he thought to himself _How do I make her mine? What am I saying she can never be mine. She was raised by the dwarves. Father would never let me be with her. _He looked upon her sadly holding that thought _But perhaps the time that we are lost together will last forever _he smiled at the thought of living in the woods with Annaliece forever with no problems just each other and he fell asleep. He woke up the next morning to being hit in the crotch with a wooden sword. He groaned in pain and rolled over and looked up and saw a little human boy with red hair about five years old.

"I saved you from the evil elf Annie." the little boy said and ran over to Annaliece who was cooking breakfast.

"Oh you did now Aiden?" Annaliece said leaning over the little boy. She looked over and saw Legolas in pain on the ground and giggled.

"I slew him with one swipe of my sword." Aiden held up his little wooden sword proudly and Annaliece smiled.

"You saved me my brave warrior." Annaliece said sweetly and kneeled down and kissed Aiden on the cheek. Aiden blushed and hugged her and Legolas walked over looking confused. Annaliece noticed his confusion "He was lost in the woods." She explained. "His family was traveling to a nearby village and they got separated when orcs attacked them." She looked at Aiden sadly "So I let him travel with us. Is that ok?" she asked with a hopeful look on her face. Legolas sighed and looked at Aiden hugging Annaliece.

"Alright." He finished. Aiden turned around and saw him and screamed.

"He's alive!" Aiden cried as he charged at Legolas and hit him in the leg with his wooden sword. Legolas grunts in pain and pushes him away with his leg and Aiden charges again Legolas pulls out his two daggers and Aiden squeaks and runs away and hides behind Annaliece and peaks out from her right side and looks at Legolas. Annaliece smiles and pulls him out from behind her and cuddles him on her lap.

"You'll have to learn to not run away from battle Aiden." Legolas said smiling at the little boy. Aiden looks disappointed.

"Don't worry Aiden." Annaliece reassured him. "Lots of brave warriors are afraid of things."

"Really?" Aiden asked surprised. "What's he afraid of?" he asked pointing to Legolas.

"Not much." Legolas boasted picking up his bow and pretending to shoot an arrow.

"He's afraid of me." Annaliece told Aiden. Legolas turned to face her with a look of confusion on his face.

"What?" he asked confused. "You think I'm afraid of you?" he laughed slightly.

"Well it's obvious." Annaliece replied smiling "I saw how nervous you were when you saw me shoot. You're afraid I'm better than you and I'm sorry to tell you that it just so happens that I am the better warrior."

"Aw how cute you think you're better than me." Leoglas replied going over to her "But I think we both know that I'm clearly the better warrior."

"Oh yeah prove it." Annaliece replied. "Fight me."

"What?" Legolas replied laughing. "You seriously want to fight me."

"Yeah and I don't see what's so funny about it." Annaliece commented. "The only one who should be laughing is me after I kick your butt."

"No way." Legolas said calming down. "I'm not going to fight you. You should be saving up your strength for our travel." He walked away then Aiden climbed off of Annaliece's lap and Annaliece kicked out her legs knocking Legolas off his feet and he fell on the ground. "Well considering you're no longer willing to fight I guess since I just took you down then I guess that makes me the better warrior. Wouldn't you agree Aiden?"

"Seems logical to me." Aiden said and he stuck out his tongue at Legolas.

"He's five." Legolas argued.

"He's right." Annaliece replied and she and Aiden high fived.

"Alright you asked for it." Legolas said getting up and he ran over to Annaliece and she dodged his charge and took out her dagger and held it up to his neck when he charged back at her. He quickly pulled out his two daggers and held them up to the back of her head pulling her in closer to him and their noses touched. Leoglas looked into her eyes and was distracted for a moment then she pushed him over on the ground and got on top of him and pinned him down and she smiled at him. Legolas flipped her over and pinned her down on the leafy ground. She struggles to get free of his grip but Legolas is too strong. "Give up yet?" He asked breathing on her face.

"Never." Annaliece replied and she kicked his stomach with her legs and he loosened his grip on her and she pushed him off and held the dagger to his neck and he held his to hers and they both looked at each other breathing on each other's faces and they almost kissed again but they were interrupted by Aiden.

"Woah!" he said running over "That was awesome you guys are amazing!" Legolas and Annaliece smiled at each other then they smiled at Aiden and Legolas took away his dagger and she took away hers and they got up and Annaliece served them breakfast.


End file.
